Pet Peeves: Aka Things That Make You Go "Gah!"

[emma675]

Quote

So I am currently drafting my very own "No Soliciting" sign; my one regret is that my HOA rules probably prohibit me from including the words "Unless you are selling Girl Scout cookies, you can fuck right off" on it.

Oh, I am so stealing this, lol!! My HOA is voluntary, not mandatory, and there are days when I love this and days when I hate it(when our neighborhood hoarder is up to 9 cars in his front yard, for example).

[TattleTeeny]

Quote

And she doesn't just interrupt me. but my other friend too. I was so close to telling her to STFU, but that would have been the wine talking. Just wish she would let people finish speaking first before jumping in again and again.

Ugh, this. And telling a story, only to have the person you're telling it to jump in and say, "Oh my god, that just reminded me--" and proceeding to elaborate on something that seems to have nothing to do with what you were saying. 

Sometimes I get the feeling that some of us are just destined by fate to be ignored. I deal with this at work often when I need a question answered, and sometimes at home with the BF, who doesn't understand that just because I made a statement as opposed to asking a question, a response is not necessary. It's called having a conversation! Oh, and when you're talking about something and the person is poking around on a phone and simply doesn't acknowledge. Seriously, fuck people. 
 

Edited August 7, 2017 by TattleTeeny

[ParadoxLost]

33 minutes ago, emma675 said:

Oh, I am so stealing this, lol!! My HOA is voluntary, not mandatory, and there are days when I love this and days when I hate it(when our neighborhood hoarder is up to 9 cars in his front yard, for example).

How does a voluntary HOA work?  Isn't a voluntary HOA akin to not having one?

[Bastet]

There's a group of people in my neighborhood who formed a non-profit called the "[Neighborhood, City] Homeowner's Association."  Anyone who lives in the neighborhood can join if they want; I think it's only $20/year or something nominal.  There's a newsletter keeping people up to date on what's happening in the neighborhood (local businesses coming or going, relevant actions by the city government, etc.).  This sounds reasonable, but they're also a bunch of busybodies with too much time on their hands, who literally drive around daily and look for people whose yards are unkempt, who've remodeled in a way they don't like, etc. and go report this to the city, looking for something that's a violation of municipal code.  They seem to confuse living in an old neighborhood with living in an historic district, and think all the houses should look like it's still the 1930s.

They're not an HOA like when you live someplace that is actually governed by one and its CC&Rs.  They just wish they were. 

[emma675]

Yeah, that's how it is in my neighborhood. It's a totally voluntary HOA with minimal fees per year and we have an elected board (basically a president, treasurer, and secretary) who do things like stay connected to other HOA's in our area, have access to our city council reps, pay for things like signage at neighborhood entrances, security cameras, annual parties for the kids, etc. It's not anything fancy but it's a nice way to keep the neighborhood organized and in touch. There are no rules around what a property must look like, hence Hoarder George (yes, we've named him. Oh, the stories I could tell about his crazy ass.).

[bilgistic]

52 minutes ago, TattleTeeny said:

Sometimes I get the feeling that some of us are just destined by fate to be ignored.

I believe that is called "being female/IDing as female, or being a person of color".

Edited August 7, 2017 by bilgistic
I'm female, for those here who don't know.

[Quof]

Well, damn.   I just tried to make an international purchase for my upcoming trip and my bank blocked the transaction - fair enough, it's part of their very good fraud protection, and I just have to call and answer some security questions to have the transaction allowed. The same thing happened a couple of weeks ago, and I appreciate the protection.  

So I called, we went through the usual routine, and determined there have actually been a few attempts recently to use my card that were, fortunately, blocked. Small amounts in cities I have not been to in recent months, if ever.  It's how the fraudsters determine how good your bank's security is, and how attentive you are to your bank statements.   In my case, the bank caught the transactions, so they didn't show up on the statements for me to see. 

So they allowed me to finish this purchase, before this train ticket goes up in price, then they cancelled my card and will send a new one express courier.  

Now I have to memorize a new number, and update all of the websites and preauthorized payments where I have the old number saved.  It's gonna take a long time. 

[BookWoman56]

@Quof, I feel for you and share your pain. I managed to lose my debit card during the middle of moving last week, shortly after a 2 am run to the local drive-through to get food for some of the college kids helping us move. I was able to go online and freeze the card in case I found it in the next few hours, but that didn't happen and so I went to the nearest bank branch to get a temporary card while they get a new regular card mailed to me.  I froze the debit card before anyone could make any fraudulent purchases with it, if that would have happened. I'm 90% convinced that I slid the card and receipt into the bag with the fast food, and the bag got tossed into the trash with my card still in it. (It was a somewhat large plastic bag that they use to put individual meals in paper bags or boxes into, so it would have been easy for the card, wrapped in the receipt, to be ignored.) But the end result is that I now have to update all my online payment info; I am consoling myself with the thought that I would have had to update my mailing address anyway.

[peacheslatour]

On 8/5/2017 at 2:50 PM, Mindthinkr said:

You are one of the few ppl that I've ever encountered that share my extreme dislike for Mayo!!  

I too hate the vile stuff with the firey passion of a thousand suns.

Quote

HER - "Oh I never bother with the BBC! Their recipes don't do anything for me. The BBC should be privatised. I hate paying the licence fee....." <blah blah>

Yay. One of those "privatize all the things" people.

[bilgistic]

This is really dumb.

I made a big batch of pasta salad on Sunday. I do it usually only once in the spring/summer because I'll make it and then I have to eat it for the following week, so I get sick of pasta salad.

I hate (HATE!) anything to do with cooking, but pasta salad is basically boil water, stir and more stirring. Chill. Stir. I made up my own recipe, such as it is: noodles (usually fusilli--I always, always think of "Fusilli Jerry" from "Seinfeld"), chickpeas, sun-dried tomatoes, goat cheese and red wine vinaigrette. It's "Mediterranean". Whee.

I considered trying a different dressing, so I also got some "goddess dressing" something or another at Trader Joe's. I've never had "green goddess" or any kind of similar dressing. I tend to stick to the vinaigrettes. I taste tested the goddess dressing before I was going to use it in the pasta salad.

Y'all. That goddess dressing seriously smells and tastes (and looks!) like actual vomit. I tried it tonight as a dipping sauce for vegetable spring rolls (Trader Joe's), and it was not quite as horrific as my initial taste test, but I was still wincing a bit. I'll be throwing the rest out. Does anyone like that stuff? I grew up eating Thousand Island dressing, which I now think is fairly vile. All I can think about now is that gross dressing.

[Bastet]

I like green goddess dressing, but I have no idea how the Trader Joe's version tastes.  (I looked it up and I'd definitely rather have the traditional green goddess recipe, but I wouldn't expect the TJ's version to smell and taste like puke.)  I wouldn't put it on pasta salad - but, then again, I don't like pasta salad (other than my mom's macaroni salad).  To me, pasta salad means vinaigrette (which I do like, and I like pasta, and everything you put in your pasta salad other than the chickpeas, I just don't like the combination).

I hope you had a good alternate dressing on hand for your pasta salad.

[bilgistic]

I used TJ's red wine vinaigrette, which is delightful and works perfectly. The chickpeas are a little heavy (literally) for the salad; the chickpeas migrate to the bottom if I don't keep them stirred in well, but it's an attempt at some protein amid the carbsplosion. I like chickpeas/garbanzo beans and love hummus.

This post has been brought to you by the Chickpea Farmers Association.

ETA: Upon reading TJ's description of it, it's occurring to me that it must be the combination of "savory" and "sour" flavors that make it pukelike. I'm cracking myself up. It's really gross. Just about everything I've ever gotten (for years!) at TJ's has rocked, but this was bad news bears.

Edited August 9, 2017 by bilgistic

[MrSmith]

On 8/4/2017 at 10:39 PM, BookWoman56 said:

The kicker: As they were leaving, they had the nerve to ask me to give them a 5-star rating. I've since gotten a couple of texts asking me to rate them. I am still composing the review in my head, but the gist will be "late, incompetent, and unprofessional."

Damn right! Be ruthless and completely savage them in your review. Reminds me of the time my wife and I bought a mattress set advertised by a company either in the paper or on Craigslist. I forget which. I had to get the BBB involved (and they're were fuck-all help) and it took several weeks to finally get the company to deliver the mattress. When they finally did, it wasn't the mattress we ordered; instead, they chose to "upgrade" us to "memory foam". Well, it certainly wasn't memory foam and it definitely wasn't an upgrade! The fucking mattress was made of STYROFOAM. No, really, you did actually just read that correctly. You can still go re-read it, if you want to, but the result will be the same. At that point, we just gave up because we had discovered the "company" was really one person who would hire a random friend of his to make deliveries and none of this was either of their "real" jobs.

[MrSmith]

On 8/6/2017 at 7:35 PM, theredhead77 said:

I live in a beach community that has its share of coyote issues. They come down the dry riverbeds and form dens in the underbrush of a sparsely populated naval weapons station that is also in wetlands. This is not the city I live in but they have a huge coyote issue. People post "OMG there's a coyote" all over Nextdoor here, too but refuse to keep their pets or pet food indoors.

When we lived in Muscoda, WI, we would sometimes get coyotes through our back yard. We even got a black bear once. We only knew about the black bear because the dog was out (Irish Wolfhound, so no threat of him being eaten, really) and went into "guard dog mode" (as we call it). He started with this really low, loud bark that we hadn't heard until then and, even now, we only hear it when he feels he or we are being threatened. I don't know how he would fare against a black bear, but I know for sure that he'd just tear a coyote to pieces.

[MrSmith]

On 8/6/2017 at 3:08 PM, bilgistic said:

A deer ran out into a four-lane secondary road behind me one weekday morning during rush hour, and I saw it in my rearview mirror being hit by the minivan behind me. I wailed for a long time while simultaneously being glad it hadn't run out in front of me and totaled my car.

And yes, people bitch about them. The woods we keep chopping down for "development" were their home, so where are they supposed to go? And don't come at me with "deer overpopulation" if you are a hunter because I will just point at the human species as an example of gross overpopulation and consumption. If we're taking away the natural habitat of the deer, we're also taking away their natural predator's habitat.

I drive through an area on the way to work that deer frequent. I've had a couple of narrow misses and have seen several spots where a deer was exploded by a car. I feel bad for them. I wish we developed in a more sensible way that actually paid attention to natural balance.

That said, I'm planning to start hunting next year. It's all business: I just want the meat. There won't be any trophies for me and I could not give one shit less about bucks than I already do. I just want to get a couple deer and GTFO of the cold. We stopped eating beef in July. We replaced it with buffalo and elk (there are local ranchers with lower than average prices). The cost is such (about $10/pound, vs the $5.50/pound for beef) that we're eating less meat than we had been, which actually makes me happy (even though I'll never give up steak even if the doctor guarantees me the next one will kill me). So, the goal of hunting for me is to add a slightly lower-cost meat option into our diets while still getting away from the fat in beef.

[TattleTeeny]

10 hours ago, bilgistic said:

I used TJ's red wine vinaigrette, which is delightful and works perfectly. The chickpeas are a little heavy (literally) for the salad; the chickpeas migrate to the bottom if I don't keep them stirred in well, but it's an attempt at some protein amid the carbsplosion. I like chickpeas/garbanzo beans and love hummus.

This post has been brought to you by the Chickpea Farmers Association.

ETA: Upon reading TJ's description of it, it's occurring to me that it must be the combination of "savory" and "sour" flavors that make it pukelike. I'm cracking myself up. It's really gross. Just about everything I've ever gotten (for years!) at TJ's has rocked, but this was bad news bears.

With you on the chickpea love. I'm not even kidding, I just about always have some opened and stashed in the refrigerator and I use them constantly to "bulk up" food. I should probably start carrying them around with me in case I get stuck in one of those disappointing "well, there's always green salad..." situations (they add a surprisingly "meaty" touch to foods that will otherwise stand zero chance of filling me up!).

Maybe it's time to start carrying a lunch box, hahahahahaaa--that way I can also keep my avocados in my presence so that I'll always be able to seize that three-minute window of time they give you between hard as a rock and gray mush.

Edited August 9, 2017 by TattleTeeny

[bilgistic]

I made guacamole exactly one time. I feel like the flavors need to mingle for it to be good, but avocado turns just out of spite. I leave it to the professionals now.

[StatisticalOutlier]

13 hours ago, bilgistic said:

(usually fusilli--I always, always think of "Fusilli Jerry" from "Seinfeld"),

I can't hear the word "fusilli" without thinking of this New Yorker cartoon: 

http://imgsrc.allposters.com/img/print/posters/charles-barsotti-fusilli-you-crazy-bastard-how-are-you-new-yorker-cartoon_a-G-9166822-8419447.jpg

[JTMacc99]

I'm with @bilgistic, I always think of Fusilli Jerry. 

"Why fusilli?"

"Because you're silly. Get it?"

 

That was also the episode with the line "A million to one shot Doc! A million to one."

[TattleTeeny]

1 hour ago, bilgistic said:

I made guacamole exactly one time. I feel like the flavors need to mingle for it to be good, but avocado turns just out of spite. I leave it to the professionals now.

As you all know, I hate onions. But I also hate cilantro. So "guacamole" to me is pretty much just smashing my avocados in a bowl--usually muttering, "Haha, I got you before you could get me!"--and adding lime and, if I'm feeling it, chopped tomatoes.

Quote

Sometimes I get the feeling that some of us are just destined by fate to be ignored. I deal with this at work often when I need a question answered, 

Yes, I'm quoting myself but ugh. I am feeling this hard today at work. Over an hour ago, I asked two questions (via the "team-communication [HA!]" software we use) about some "urgent" copy I'm supposed to write (SURPRISE! The powers that be left off pertinent details). No reply from any one of the many people on this so-called team. 

Last week, I asked a question (to different people via same software--and another time-sensitive project) and no answer. Asked again this week. Nothing. Someone else who needed that info asked this morning and BOOM! Replied to within the hour. Then...

Another question along the lines of, "We are missing important details. Here is a list of what I do have." (I have to do that even though the question itself should deem that unnecessary.) Well, hallelujah--a reply--a week later--featuring...

the stuff I clearly stated that I did not need--because I already had it, hence THE LIST I included. Still waiting (since 10 this morning) to be acknowledged on my reply again requesting the missing stuff.

At what point do I say fuck it, even though it's my job to present complete information in our print media?

Edited August 9, 2017 by TattleTeeny

[NutMeg]

14 hours ago, bilgistic said:

I used TJ's red wine vinaigrette, which is delightful and works perfectly. The chickpeas are a little heavy (literally) for the salad; the chickpeas migrate to the bottom if I don't keep them stirred in well, but it's an attempt at some protein amid the carbsplosion. I like chickpeas/garbanzo beans and love hummus.

This post has been brought to you by the Chickpea Farmers Association.

ETA: Upon reading TJ's description of it, it's occurring to me that it must be the combination of "savory" and "sour" flavors that make it pukelike. I'm cracking myself up. It's really gross. Just about everything I've ever gotten (for years!) at TJ's has rocked, but this was bad news bears.

I'd say make your own dressing, it's easy, probably less expensive, and you know exactly what goes in there (like no sugar, arg...). Just keep some good oil on hand, I go for olive but there are a few other tasty option, add lemon juice (I admit I buy it ready to add to dishes, but you can squeeze lemons if you are more of a purist, same quantity of lemon juice than of olive oil is what I do) or red wine vinegar (1/2 to 2/3 of the volume of olive oil, depending on the potency of your vinegar and how much you like the acid taste), add some pepper and salt to taste, and voilà. That's your base, and to it you can like garlic, wheat germs, any herbs you fancy, replace oil with plain yoghurt, etc. Endless possibilities that you can adjust  to your tastebuds and the dish on hand.

1 hour ago, bilgistic said:

I made guacamole exactly one time. I feel like the flavors need to mingle for it to be good, but avocado turns just out of spite. I leave it to the professionals now.

For me, the trick is buying avocados when they are very green outside, leaving them at room temperature and eating them when the skin has become almost black. But I know someone who buys them already dark and it works for him (never worked for me, if I buy these, they're already spoiled in parts). Me, I need about 3 days from purchase to perfect to eat with my method).

[Moose135]

6 hours ago, MrSmith said:

I had to get the BBB involved (and they're were fuck-all help)

The BBB doesn't really have any power to do anything.  I've always found that if I have a real problem, the state Attorney General's office consumer affairs division is a much better choice.  At least in New York, insurance companies especially hate it when you report it to the AG.

[BookWoman56]

Avocados are to me what mayo is to some of you.  Guacamole looks like something I would find at the bottom of a bird cage, and IMO smells like it as well. I cannot abide the taste of avocados or guacamole, so I hate the trend in restaurants of adding avocado slices to damn near every type of sandwich for no good reason, other than to add the word "California" to the name of the sandwich.  The taste and smell permeate the sandwich, so it's not like I can just remove the offending slices and eat the sandwich. No, if it arrives with avocado on it when I specifically requested it not to, the sandwich is going back to the kitchen. If it comes back and it's clear that all they did was remove the avocado rather than remake the sandwich, I will send it back again and order something completely different. Ditto with guacamole on the side of various Mexican dishes. I will usually ask for the guacamole to be put in a separate side container, so that anybody else at the table who wants it can make use of it. but for the record, I hate when the fixings for fajitas or tacos arrive with the cheese, sour cream, pico, and guacamole all lumped together. 

[BookWoman56]

4 minutes ago, Moose135 said:

The BBB doesn't really have any power to do anything.  I've always found that if I have a real problem, the state Attorney General's office consumer affairs division is a much better choice.  At least in New York, insurance companies especially hate it when you report it to the AG.

Yes, if not the AG's office, if there is a state-level official who is the commissioner of insurance or some similar title, that person is better equipped to make things happen. Many, many years ago my father bought a policy from someone who had come to our home and laid out the major features of the policy, and my father kept the notes. The actual policy, when it arrived, had some major differences from the quoted policy, and my father was able to get the state insurance commissioner to step in and force the company to provide an amended policy. If he'd gone with the BBB, nothing would have happened.  I value what the BBB does, in the sense of if I want to see if a company has a decent reputation, it's an okay source of info.  But for action, you're better off going to someone or some agency with more clout.

[bilgistic]

35 minutes ago, NutMeg said:

I'd say make your own dressing, it's easy, probably less expensive, and you know exactly what goes in there (like no sugar, arg...). Just keep some good oil on hand, I go for olive but there are a few other tasty option, add lemon juice (I admit I buy it ready to add to dishes, but you can squeeze lemons if you are more of a purist, same quantity of lemon juice than of olive oil is what I do) or red wine vinegar (1/2 to 2/3 of the volume of olive oil, depending on the potency of your vinegar and how much you like the acid taste), add some pepper and salt to taste, and voilà. That's your base, and to it you can like garlic, wheat germs, any herbs you fancy, replace oil with plain yoghurt, etc. Endless possibilities that you can adjust  to your tastebuds and the dish on hand.

That is WAAAAAAY too much work for this non-cook! I have a years-old bottle of olive oil because I never cook. I probably should toss it...

[Mindthinkr]

On 8/4/2017 at 11:39 PM, BookWoman56 said:

I just had a home security system installed (new house) but I am leaving it unarmed until such time, which may be never, that I have time to read the instructions and so forth. At this point, all it does is announce which door has just been opened, no alarms.  

On the subject of pet peeves, though, I have a new one: Vendors/companies who accept a job assignment and then fail to show up on schedule and do the agreed-upon work. I closed on my new house this past Friday and had booked a moving crew to load/unload a moving van on Saturday. I discussed with them how much furniture and so forth (3 BR apartment and a fuckton of books); they estimated it would take x number of hours. We did the packing ourselves, and were ready to go. The person who dispatches the crew texted me the day before to confirm time (1:00 pm) and location. That morning, he called to say they were running ahead on their first job of the day and would likely be there 30 minutes to an hour early. Okay, fine. Then he called around noon to say they were now running late. Eventually the crew showed up three hours late, took a look around, announced they would need more time than I had booked to load/unload everything, and that in any case, they couldn't do anything at all that day because they would risk being late to their "real" jobs. Excuse me? If you want to quibble about how many hours it will take to do the complete job, then give me an updated estimate of how long. But in the meantime, I booked you for a certain number of hours for this day, and the least you can do is go ahead and do the hours of work you already committed to.  Instead, they got their dispatcher on the phone who said they would come back Sunday  morning at 8:00 am. In a total panic at that point, because it was obviously too late to hire another crew that late in the day, I agreed.  My daughter was able to draft some friends on an emergency basis to come load the moving van for us (starting around 10 pm when they got off work), and drive it to the new house. By that time, everybody was too exhausted to unload the van, so I texted the moving crew dispatcher to just come to the new house and the job would be simply unloading.  The crew of course showed up an hour late, proceeded to work in slow motion to drag out the length of the job, and instead of taking the items to the specific rooms as either labeled on the boxes or directed by me, stuck all 1st floor items in the living room and all 2nd floor items in the game room upstairs. 

The kicker: As they were leaving, they had the nerve to ask me to give them a 5-star rating. I've since gotten a couple of texts asking me to rate them. I am still composing the review in my head, but the gist will be "late, incompetent, and unprofessional."

At least your stuff made it to your new place. I just used a company that lost a lot of my stuff. They came and collected it. Like you I had pre-packed everything but the kitchen (had to live there so I cleared out all of my good stuff and left nothing but the necessities necessary for one week of living. The guys came late and we're as slow as molasses. I had a few ppl stop by to say goodbye and they even commented. I had moved everything from the third floor onto the ground level as well so that they would not get tired doing stairs all day (all this effort took me about 3-4 weeks of packing and toting). All that was left above the ground floor was empty furniture. They were taking it to a storage unit for 6 weeks as mY new place wasn't ready yet (are they ever done on time?) When the person I had hired to do the after move clean out got there she called me as there was still stuff in the drawers and cabinets in the kitchen. Mind you they did take some items but grudgingly. Their supervisor had been out earlier in the day as wel because I had bought art boxes for art and mirrors and they had forgotten to put them on the truck. So I asked her to put the items in her car and had to meet her at to retrieve the "forgotten " items at an additional cost to me. After complaining they comped me 2 hrs of labor. Well FF to the move in. I got 3 great guys who emptied the truck in a third of the time it took to fill. Guess why. They had lost a lot of my belongings. We are talking small stuff. I mean boxes, art, and furniture. Big stuff. They said that it's on me because I had it in storage. No. Never saw the storage place. Didn't know the name of the place they used and never was issued a key. Long story short is my stuff is gone. They did recover some items and furniture but the rest...it was as tho my stuff was sifted through and the rumager took what they needed to start a one bedroom apt. I'm still fighting as I've gotten no compensation for what's gone. I was smart enough to take photos and have proof. They say when we reach an agreement I'll get something back. The best part is that my best art, family silver, jewelry etc. went in my car with me and stayed at my daughter's where it was safe. This is a very reputable company. Document everything when you move. They give you papers to sign. Read them carefully. Do not sign for everything until you have counted the boxes and opened some of them to check. This has annoyed me to no end. My pet peeve is ppl who don't do their jobs correctly (or half assed). 

Sorry for your runaround on time BookWoman but at least you got your stuff. It could have been worse. 

[MargeGunderson]

16 hours ago, bilgistic said:

This is really dumb.

I made a big batch of pasta salad on Sunday. I do it usually only once in the spring/summer because I'll make it and then I have to eat it for the following week, so I get sick of pasta salad.

I hate (HATE!) anything to do with cooking, but pasta salad is basically boil water, stir and more stirring. Chill. Stir. I made up my own recipe, such as it is: noodles (usually fusilli--I always, always think of "Fusilli Jerry" from "Seinfeld"), chickpeas, sun-dried tomatoes, goat cheese and red wine vinaigrette. It's "Mediterranean". Whee.

I considered trying a different dressing, so I also got some "goddess dressing" something or another at Trader Joe's. I've never had "green goddess" or any kind of similar dressing. I tend to stick to the vinaigrettes. I taste tested the goddess dressing before I was going to use it in the pasta salad.

Y'all. That goddess dressing seriously smells and tastes (and looks!) like actual vomit. I tried it tonight as a dipping sauce for vegetable spring rolls (Trader Joe's), and it was not quite as horrific as my initial taste test, but I was still wincing a bit. I'll be throwing the rest out. Does anyone like that stuff? I grew up eating Thousand Island dressing, which I now think is fairly vile. All I can think about now is that gross dressing.

Don't throw it away, take it back to Trader Joe's and tell them you hated it. They will refund your money.  

[NutMeg]

32 minutes ago, bilgistic said:

That is WAAAAAAY too much work for this non-cook! I have a years-old bottle of olive oil because I never cook. I probably should toss it...

I've been you and still am at times and will be re non-cook, but I'll never buy premade seasoning, so much better to mix you own, with extras if you feel like it. It doesn't take much or long, you just pour two things instead of one :) Actually, in my non-cook days, the only two things I ever cooked/prepared were premixed salads (I did the dressing) and soups with pre-chopped veggies (I added my own mix of herbs). Plus random soft or hard boiled eggs (not much washing up to do, plus hard boiled eggs cooked in advance are a bonanza for later - of course, sometimes my hard boiled eggs were intended to be soft boiled eggs that I hadn't paid enough attention to). 

[Jaded]

Regarding the BBB sometimes complaints made through them can reach people higher up in a company or who are in more of a position to help. 

[StatisticalOutlier]

2 hours ago, NutMeg said:

I'd say make your own dressing, it's easy, probably less expensive, and you know exactly what goes in there (like no sugar, arg...). Just keep some good oil on hand, I go for olive but there are a few other tasty option, add lemon juice (I admit I buy it ready to add to dishes, but you can squeeze lemons if you are more of a purist, same quantity of lemon juice than of olive oil is what I do) or red wine vinegar (1/2 to 2/3 of the volume of olive oil, depending on the potency of your vinegar and how much you like the acid taste), add some pepper and salt to taste, and voilà. That's your base, and to it you can like garlic, wheat germs, any herbs you fancy, replace oil with plain yoghurt, etc. Endless possibilities that you can adjust  to your tastebuds and the dish on hand.

I do appreciate your effort, but from a non-cook's perspective:

1.  What is a "good" oil?  Like bilgistic, I have a years-old bottle of olive oil in my refrigerator.  I don't know if it was good when I bought it, and I'm pretty sure it's not better now.

2.  What is a "tasty" alternative to olive oil?  Actually, I don't even like olive oil.  Even the best stuff tastes rancid to me (I've gone to olive oil stores and tested it because I just can't believe I don't like any of it). 

3.  Thank you for the 1:1 ratio of lemon juice to olive oil.

4.  1/2 to 2/3 of red wine vinegar (I'll have to buy some) to olive oil, depending on potency of the vinegar (how do I know what that is?) and how much I like the acid taste (again, how do I know?).  And even if I like the dressing, will it be what I want on pasta salad?

5.  Good old "pepper and salt to taste."  I haven't the vaguest idea how much that is.  I never add table salt to anything I eat.  Or pepper, for that matter.  When I make pasta, I sprinkle some salt in the water, but I've read that it's supposed to be up to 1 tablespoon per quart of water.  The hell?

6.  Add garlic, "herbs you fancy."  I don't know if I fancy any herbs.  Well, I know I don't like cilantro, but I don't think that would go in there anyway.  And adjusting to "the dish on hand"?  I wouldn't have the slightest idea how to do that.

None of this sounds familiar from your non-cook days?  Or were you always a cook and just didn't know it? 

When I say I'm not a cook, I mean it.  I can follow a recipe, but will do so slavishly.  Which does bring up a peeve--when I look at the comments on recipes online, people will rate it, and then list all the changes they made to it.  Which makes it a different recipe.

[bilgistic]

What I hate about cooking, besides the act itself, is the waste. I'm a single woman with a cat. If I buy all the stuff to make a recipe (writing that sentence is ludicrous!), I invariably have a bottle of oil because I needed a tablespoon, and five eggs because I needed one, and a bottle of thyme or some shit that I'll never use again. Cooking is for the birds.

When my long-lost relative dies and leaves me a fortune, I will have a vegan chef. Until then, it's cereal for dinner!

[TattleTeeny]

Well, whoo-hoo--finally got a reply. Only instead of the answer, it was "What did you need?" Dude could have scrolled up an inch or so and found that. I tell him and he answers...with something completely different from the half-info I had earlier (but still without the same components I'd originally asked for), and also a whole different quantity, which would require rewording the copy. I question this; he ambiguously says he was wrong before about the "what," but says nothing about the "how many" or the rest. Back in I go to supply him with a detailed account of evidence that this shouldn't be. He ghosts again. And I am right where I was a week ago. 

I really don't understand what is so hard about this. Read the question and either supply the answer or say why the answer cannot be supplied (preferably in one message). I'll note this, fix it, and carry on.

Edited August 9, 2017 by TattleTeeny

[walnutqueen]

I discovered Green Goddess dressing at some fancy schmancy exclusive club at Diamondhead, Oahu, where I attended monthly board meetings in the early 80s.  It tasted like the elixir of the Goddesses.  Imagine my disappointment when I never found anything coming close to that luscious flavor, ever again.  :-(

Avocados need to be tested by (gentle) feel, not color.  Immediate lime juice and protection from any air will keep gauc green for a bit; leaving the pit in the uneaten half, sprinkled with lime juice, topped with the emptied other half of the peel, and wrapped in cello will protect the whole - for a day.  They are mercurial beasts, appearing in all forms & flavors; but if you ever get a giant butter avo from "a friend" - you've approached nirvana.  ;-)  And then, all other avos pale in comparison.  :-(

[bilgistic]

Ha ha!

Panera is dead to me, unfortunately. It is in my work building, so I would eat there a few times a month. They pull shenanigans with gift cards and cookies. They know what they did.

Not that it stopped me from eating leftover Panera catered food in the office.

[BookWoman56]

8 hours ago, Mindthinkr said:

At least your stuff made it to your new place. I just used a company that lost a lot of my stuff. They came and collected it. Like you I had pre-packed everything but the kitchen (had to live there so I cleared out all of my good stuff and left nothing but the necessities necessary for one week of living. The guys came late and we're as slow as molasses. I had a few ppl stop by to say goodbye and they even commented...

I'm still fighting as I've gotten no compensation for what's gone. I was smart enough to take photos and have proof. They say when we reach an agreement I'll get something back. The best part is that my best art, family silver, jewelry etc. went in my car with me and stayed at my daughter's where it was safe. This is a very reputable company. Document everything when you move. They give you papers to sign. Read them carefully. Do not sign for everything until you have counted the boxes and opened some of them to check. This has annoyed me to no end. My pet peeve is ppl who don't do their jobs correctly (or half assed). 

Sorry for your runaround on time BookWoman but at least you got your stuff. It could have been worse. 

@Mindthinkr, that is insanely bad service. As noted, I am out of time, energy, and the charges for an extra day of the moving truck rental, but all my possessions made it to the new house.  Nothing went into storage, so no opportunity to plunder; they didn't drive the moving truck either, although that had been the original plan. I did move my own electronics because I don't trust moving people to move that stuff without damage. You were definitely smart to take photos of your stuff, and I hope they either find your missing stuff or reimburse you sufficiently to replace them with similar quality. I would be livid.  Many years ago when I was living in FL, a rented moving truck full of my possessions was stolen and per the police, the thieves likely got anything they could sell quickly, then dumped the rest in the Everglades. I learned then that it wasn't the furniture and so forth that was the worst loss, but things that were irreplaceable, such as my master's thesis and many textbooks and so forth that were out of print by then, along with some personal keepsakes such as jewelry my first serious boyfriend gave to me (nothing really expensive but very fond memories). It was one thing to lose stuff to robbery, but to lose it to incompetence would make me even angrier, I think.

Edited August 10, 2017 by BookWoman56

[AgentRXS]

Quote

What I hate about cooking, besides the act itself, is the waste. I'm a single woman with a cat. If I buy all the stuff to make a recipe (writing that sentence is ludicrous!), I invariably have a bottle of oil because I needed a tablespoon, and five eggs because I needed one, and a bottle of thyme or some shit that I'll never use again. Cooking is for the birds.

Yup. My peeve is my dad, who is always pressuring me to cook. He thinks I should cook one big meal and eat it 4-5 times a week. I do know single women who do that. I, however, may want eggs on Monday....and then I might not want eggs again for another month or so. So buying a carton of eggs is wasteful to me. I do keep some groceries in the house...and I will cook minimally...but don't ask me to cook a huge meal and eat the same thing for a week. Yuck.

[ratgirlagogo]

10 hours ago, TattleTeeny said:

As you all know, I hate onions. But I also hate cilantro. So "guacamole" to me is pretty much just smashing my avocados in a bowl--usually muttering, "Haha, I got you before you could get me!"--and adding lime and, if I'm feeling it, chopped tomatoes.

For the record I love avocados.  We had avocado trees in the backyard when I was a kid and we ate avocados in many forms all the time - for what it's worth you should know that in Mexico (and the SW US) guacamole is often just mashed avocados with salt and pepper.  Lime, lemon, etc. are only added to keep the avocado from turning brown (which is why premade supermarket guacamole always includes some kind of citric acid) - they aren't a necessary ingredient at all.  I love cilantro and chiles and onions and garlic and  blah blah blah - but you should just make your food the way you like it.  Can't help you with the unripe/ripe avocado thing, except to say that if you're ripening them on the counter, once they start to feel kind of soft you should put them in the fridge, which will keep them from overripening for a few days.  Though you still need to use them within a few days.

 

9 hours ago, bilgistic said:

I have a years-old bottle of olive oil because I never cook. I probably should toss it....

Yikes!  yeah,  you should toss it.  This is a product from an actual plant!  It's not motor oil, it doesn't last forever.

7 hours ago, StatisticalOutlier said:

When I say I'm not a cook, I mean it

 

5 hours ago, bilgistic said:

What I hate about cooking, besides the act itself, is the waste. I'm a single woman with a cat. If I buy all the stuff to make a recipe (writing that sentence is ludicrous!), I invariably have a bottle of oil because I needed a tablespoon, and five eggs because I needed one, and a bottle of thyme or some shit that I'll never use again. Cooking is for the birds.

I love cooking myself - I find it actually physically pleasurable. And I may enjoy the shopping even more than the cooking!  I love going through the farmer's markets and ethnic markets,  and  even just regular garden variety supermarkets, and looking at what's available and thinking about what I will make with it. But if this isn't  you,  then it isn't you.  If you would LIKE to experiment for a while with cooking for yourself without, for example, buying a whole bottle of olive oil or an entire jar of herbs you aren't likely to use in a hurry, why not look into one of the many meal prep services like Blue Apron or Hello Fresh that are popping up all over the place.  You choose a dish, they deliver all the ingredients you need to prepare that dish  - but ONLY enough ingredients to prepare that dish.  If you need a sprig of dill, they deliver a sprig of dill, not a whole bunch of it. 

Maybe you still may find that you don't enjoy cooking but a service like this would at least make certain aspects of it easier and allow you to decide how you feel without a big commitment. Like a big bottle of olive oil.

Edited August 10, 2017 by ratgirlagogo

[Bastet]

20 minutes ago, AgentRXS said:

He thinks I should cook one big meal and eat it 4-5 times a week. I do know single women who do that.

I don't do that, because I'd get really sick of it; I'm split about 50/50 between making just enough of a dish for one dinner or making enough to also have one or even two lunch-size servings left over.  Any more than that, is too much of the same exact thing in the time frame it will stay good.  I do plan meals to use some of the same ingredients in several different dishes over the course of a week or two, though -- no waste, but adequate variety.  Salad greens rarely go to waste, despite the fact it's just me with a head of this, a head of that, etc., because I have some sort of side salad with every dinner.  I cycle between add-ins and dressings, coordinating with the night's main course and side, to keep things interesting.  Plus, I make my lunches, so that helps use things up before they go bad.  But shopping and cooking in a way that didn't result in waste was definitely a learning curve!  I don't fault anyone who decides, "Eh, screw it" and sticks with convenience food. 

Sometimes my garden overflows with something (e.g. any kind of squash - man, those things are prolific!) such that there just aren't enough ways to cook it without me getting burnt out on it, so then I take the excess (after what I've shared with family, friends, and neighbors) to the local food pantry.  But I call first and ask, "Can you use zucchini, or are you overloaded with everyone's backyard garden excess?"  They usually laugh and say, yeah, they're getting a whole lot of it, but there are still enough clients that they can use more.  Which is a sad commentary on food security in this country, but that's much more than a peeve.

But I also live in an area with a wide variety of great, independent restaurants that deliver, so it's not rare for me to decide I'm not in the mood to cook - cooking is something I sometimes enjoy, usually think nothing of (good or bad), and sometimes just don't have the energy for - and instead call out for food.  In my parents' neighborhood, there is one good Chinese restaurant, one pretty good Thai restaurant, and one good Italian restaurant that deliver, and that's it; the rest are blah.  And the Thai and Italian restaurants stop delivering at 8:00 or something.  I hate it when I'm kittysitting at their place and decide I want to order in.  At home, I have access to just about anything until 10:00 weeknights and 11:00 p.m. or later weekends (and one Asian fusion place that will deliver until 1:00 a.m. seven days a week).  I can even get (delicious, authentic) Mexican food delivered here, which was a big peeve in my previous neighborhood -- several great delivery options for every other cuisine, but none of the Mexican restaurants delivered. 

Edited August 10, 2017 by Bastet

[ratgirlagogo]

16 minutes ago, Bastet said:

He thinks I should cook one big meal and eat it 4-5 times a week. I do know single women who do that.

You could do what Mr Rat and I do, which is cook every couple of days and make enough for around two meals.  So you always have three or four things of leftovers in the fridge, but not things you ate just yesterday, without really loading up on one particular thing you made.

[TattleTeeny]

Quote

For the record I love avocados.  We had avocado trees in the backyard when I was a kid and we ate avocados in many forms all the time - for what it's worth you should know that in Mexico (and the SW US) guacamole is often just mashed avocados with salt and pepper.  Lime, lemon, etc. are only added to keep the avocado from turning brown (which is why premade supermarket guacamole always includes some kind of citric acid) - they aren't a necessary ingredient at all.  I love cilantro and chiles and onions and garlic and  blah blah blah - but you should just make your food the way you like it.  Can't help you with the unripe/ripe avocado thing, except to say that if you're ripening them on the counter, once they start to feel kind of soft you should put them in the fridge, which will keep them from overripening for a few days.  Though you still need to use them within a few days.

Yup, the paper bag for a day or so, then into the fridge! Haha, I feel like buying avocados is like committing to care for a living creature! But your avocado-filled childhood sounds fabulous--and, hooray! My guac is basically that of a true Mexican! (I like to think that I belong in Mexico, to the point where my BF will now sarcastically mention my "Mexican heritage"--which I do not actually have. At all).

[DeLurker]

On 8/7/2017 at 3:56 PM, TattleTeeny said:

Sometimes I get the feeling that some of us are just destined by fate to be ignored. I deal with this at work often when I need a question answered, and sometimes at home with the BF, who doesn't understand that just because I made a statement as opposed to asking a question, a response is not necessary. It's called having a conversation! Oh, and when you're talking about something and the person is poking around on a phone and simply doesn't acknowledge. Seriously, fuck people. 
 

I decided when I was married and at the ex's family function, they considered everyone else the audience.  If you subtracted the audience, there was a death struggle to remain the main actor and force the other family member to be the audience.

On 8/8/2017 at 9:55 PM, bilgistic said:

 Chill. Stir. I made up my own recipe, such as it is: noodles (usually fusilli--I always, always think of "Fusilli Jerry" from "Seinfeld"), chickpeas, sun-dried tomatoes, goat cheese and red wine vinaigrette. It's "Mediterranean". Whee.

That sounds pretty yummy.

On 8/9/2017 at 9:17 AM, TattleTeeny said:

Maybe it's time to start carrying a lunch box, hahahahahaaa--that way I can also keep my avocados in my presence so that I'll always be able to seize that three-minute window of time they give you between hard as a rock and gray mush.

It really is a ridiculously short window of time.

18 hours ago, StatisticalOutlier said:

2.  What is a "tasty" alternative to olive oil?  Actually, I don't even like olive oil.  Even the best stuff tastes rancid to me (I've gone to olive oil stores and tested it because I just can't believe I don't like any of it). <snip>

6.  Add garlic, "herbs you fancy."  I don't know if I fancy any herbs.  Well, I know I don't like cilantro, but I don't think that would go in there anyway.  And adjusting to "the dish on hand"?  I wouldn't have the slightest idea how to do that.

I'd give peanut oil a shot instead of olive oil.  While there is a fair amount of health benefit articles on it, I just prefer it for a lighter taste.  Sometimes it is slightly nutty in flavor. It is used frequently in Asian recipes and restaurants when you want the flavor of the ingredients to not be overpowered.  Also has a high heat index so you can deep fry (I deep fry probably 3-4x year when I make eggrolls.  I loathe deep frying, although I don't mind eating deep fried food).

I keep a bottle of Goya Sazonador or Adobo All purposed seasoning on hand.  Trader Joe's also makes an Everyday Seasoning (Sea salt, mustard seeds, black peppercorns, coriander, onion, garlic, paprika, chili pepper.) that works out well for me.  Not too much of any particular spice. 

[bilgistic]

I love the Everyday Seasoning with the built-in grinder! When the mood strikes in early fall, I'll buy squash, zucchini, potatoes, tomatoes and whatever else I find at the farmer's market, slice on a cheap mandoline I got at Target, and go to town with the seasoning, a bit of olive oil and a generous helping of balsamic vinegar, which I could almost drink because I love it so much. I roast it for a while and...yay, vegetables! That's the only other time I cook, unless you count boiling water for pasta.

Then I have to eat the vegetable bonanza for a week. Sigh.

[TattleTeeny]

Roast vegetables are my anti-peeve. Cauliflower, man! Whoo-hoo!

ARRRRGGGHHHHH, so tired of spam phone calls, man. At this point, I have more blocked numbers in my phone than I do valid ones--even though I know that blocking does a big fat nothing in terms of stopping this shit. 

Edited August 10, 2017 by TattleTeeny

[peacheslatour]

8 hours ago, TattleTeeny said:

Yup, the paper bag for a day or so, then into the fridge! Haha, I feel like buying avocados is like committing to care for a living creature! But your avocado-filled childhood sounds fabulous--and, hooray! My guac is basically that of a true Mexican! (I like to think that I belong in Mexico, to the point where my BF will now sarcastically mention my "Mexican heritage"--which I do not actually have. At all).

One of the best ways I have found to keep guac fresh is to place the plastic wrap right down on the surface of the guac like you do with puddings and custards to keep them from skinning over.

[Bastet]

After I get guacamole mixed together (chunky avocado, cilantro, jalapeño, and garlic), I stick the pit in the middle, cover the bowl tightly with plastic wrap, and put it in the fridge for several hours for the flavors to combine.  It stays nice and green.

My avocado peeve is that grocery stores only sell the Hass variety.  I love them, but there are so many other great varieties, too!  I have to go to the farmers markets to get those, though.  There are over half a dozen varieties grown commercially in CA, but the chain supermarkets here just stick with Hass.  Fuerte are probably my favorite, and it particularly irks me that those aren't widely available - they're in season pretty much exactly during the brief downtime for Hass.

While I'm lodging avocado complaints, I must note that I truly hate what I call the Florida avocado (Choquette, I think) -- they're so freakin' watery the flavor is almost completely diluted.

[bilgistic]

Can I get all of you chefs to make me some food and ship it on ice overnight??

[TattleTeeny]

1 hour ago, peacheslatour said:

One of the best ways I have found to keep guac fresh is to place the plastic wrap right down on the surface of the guac like you do with puddings and custards to keep them from skinning over.

I don't usually have too much trouble with preserving already-cut avocados or guac (because I am a very food-motivated lady, and eat it all!). It's those jerk-ass, mercurial, as-yet-unmolested avocados that start the trouble in this house!

 

Quote

Can I get all of you chefs to make me some food and ship it on ice overnight??

I ask this all the time of my vegan guru chef friend. He does not comply.

Edited August 10, 2017 by TattleTeeny

[Katy M]

I'm trying to keep things in perspective, because I feel like I had the worst day ever yesterday, and, I know of course, that millions of people had a worse day than I did.  Most of it was at work, so when I left, I was like, well, at least it's the weekend and I won't have to deal again until Monday.  But, I went hope and I had to stall a new modem because Comcast told me that my old one was going to stop working at the end of the month.  OK, so I go to set it up and I'm following the directions of hooking up the modem to the cable in the wall.  But, then I was like, wait, how will I watch TV (not that it might not be a good thing if I didn't).  Anyway, I called and the guy said I should have a splitter and I looked in the box and lo and behold there's a splitter.  I apologized for not seeing anything about that in the instructions an dhung up.  I then, realized the splitter wouldnt' fit to the cable.  So, I called back, and spoke to someone else who said they could send me the correct splitter for a shipping charge of  $6 something.  Are you serious?  This was all supposed to be free.  So after arguing with him for a couple of minutes, quite loudly at the end, I asked to speak to a supervisor. He told me a supervisor was just going to say the same thing, but I insisted.  Anyway, the supervisor was quite nice.  He told me he had to charge the shipping,but he would give me a $10 credit on my next bill.  OK, so I'm happy.  But, I now have to hook up my old modem so I have internet while waiting for new splitter.  And, this is when I realized I already had a splitter on my old set up.  AARGH. OK, I set everything up and I called back yet again to cancel the splitter.  I'm sure I looked like quite the moron.  I'm just glad that's all over (bar returning the old one where I'm sure something else will go wrong).

[DeLurker]

I'm going to whine about the weather since I have to walk my dog before it gets to hell level heat today.  Last night at 8:30 PM it was still 94* with a heat index at 102*.

[StatisticalOutlier]

On 8/9/2017 at 9:38 PM, ratgirlagogo said:

Maybe you still may find that you don't enjoy cooking but a service like [Blue Apron] would at least make certain aspects of it easier and allow you to decide how you feel without a big commitment. Like a big bottle of olive oil.

As always, I present an outlying case.  Since I don't have a fixed address, I can't do any sort of delivery things.  But I have realized that one thing I don't like about cooking is how long it takes, especially getting everything out and measuring it and putting it back.  I finally grokked that on cooking shows, they have everything already out and measured and just toss it in.  That would be one very nice aspect of Blue Apron.

There's a fast casual chain called Noodles and Company, and I love their steak stroganoff.  I found a recipe that's very similar to theirs and I make it when I'm not in Noodles territory, but it takes a couple of hours (braising the meat, slicing mushrooms, etc.), and then 15 minutes to eat it.  And then I have to clean it all up.

I guess since I'm a recipe follower and not a cook, preparing food isn't creative for me.  The only joy I get out of it is when I'm able to make something I can't get elsewhere, or if I can make it myself for a lot less than buying it (Whole Foods Sonoma chicken salad), or if it means I can have something I like and don't have to drag my ass out of the house to get it.