Small Talk: "I'll Take Non-Show Chat For $400, Alex."

[suebee12]

50 minutes ago, SoMuchTV said:

On the desktop (Firefox) it's uBlock Origin.  It's one of the free ad-ons/extensions you can get.  People on another forum seemed to think it slowed things down less than Adblock Plus.  Not sure if I can really tell much difference; they both seemed fine.

Thank you, thank you, thank you @SoMuchTV! Just added uBlock Origin and no pop ups!!!!!!

[zoey1996]

Thanks for the ad block suggestions.  I found Norton Ad Blocker in the iPhone app site.  So far, so good!

[saber5055]

The most amazing Christmas miracle just happened. Being bored and considering going to bed early to listen to the radio, I thought WTH, I'll scan the tv channels for the heck of it, it's been a while. So I did ... and the seven missing channels were back, including the one that carries Jeopardy. I'm so gobsmacked, I cannot believe it.

I hope everyone else got a gift just as good as mine.

Edited December 26, 2019 by saber5055

[BuckeyeLou]

1 hour ago, saber5055 said:

The most amazing Christmas miracle just happened. Being bored and considering going to bed early to listen to the radio, I thought WTH, I'll scan the tv channels for the heck of it, it's been a while. So I did ... and the seven missing channels were back, including the one that carries Jeopardy. I'm so gobsmacked, I cannot believe it.

I hope everyone else got a gift just as good as mine.

Yay! That is a Christmas miracle!  Now settle in & 'on with the show" 🙂

[Mindthinkr]

@saber5055 The grandkids are not slackers. Their parents have kept them out of trouble, heavily involved in sports and they get good grades. The one grandson finished his Eagle Scout Project and is a math wiz. He wants to be an engineer. Lucky for him our state schools are darn good and it won’t cost as much as Harvard. The eldest wants to go into the veterinary field. It's too soon to know  what the youngest is into, besides sports. All of them have been to museums and can identify some major art pieces besides some of my favorites. Still, I’ll keep my eyes open at yard sales. It’s true that you’ll never know what you’ll find. One man’s trash is another man’s treasure. 

[saber5055]

I didn’t mean to imply the grands are slackers. Christie’s sold a Van Gogh in 2017 for $111 million. So four grands could receive almost $28 million each from the sale of your one Van Gogh. Three grands get $108 mil! That would cover a college education and set them up for life. They could work, own a company, be a philanthropist or do nothing at all. Hopefully, you will have put the Van Goghs still hanging on your wall into a will so they do not end up in an estate yard sale or the corner dumpster. “Grams and her old ugly paintings ...”

Unfortunately, since Timeless was cancelled, the Flying Eyeball is out of commission, so any of us grabbing those dirt-cheap impressionist paintings won’t be happening any time soon.

[SoMuchTV]

On 11/24/2019 at 9:43 AM, SoMuchTV said:

That would be quite a twist, if Alex retired and was replaced by someone almost two decades older!

I thought the Betty White stuff was pure speculation, but I just saw the prime time special where Alex himself suggested her! (Joking, I think, but still...)

[saber5055]

1 hour ago, SoMuchTV said:

I thought the Betty White stuff was pure speculation, but I just saw the prime time special where Alex himself suggested her! (Joking, I think, but still...)

I wonder if one of his assistants saw it here. Many shows troll the chat rooms. In any case, it got two thumbs up from me.

[saber5055]

Sponge candy is delicious, but it's been years since I've thought of it, or had any. It's easy to make, just sugar, corn syrup and a little vinegar cooked to 300F, then put in a bit of baking soda, which makes it bubble up. Pour into a pan, let it harden, and it looks like a sponge or honeycomb -- light and airy and crunchy and sweet and delicious. After chunking it up, most people dip the pieces in chocolate.

My farm store sells it, it carries all sorts of candy and chocolates. It's a one-stop shop, buy your sheep dewormer, jeans, oil filters, calf milk replacer, baby chicks, coats, shoes and sponge candy. Now I have to buy some next trip to the big city.

[harrie]

Ooooh, that's a blast from the past --  I know sponge candy as sea foam.   Love it but haven't had it in years (which is probably a good thing). 

[ABay]

This is sponge candy https://www.aletheas.com/shop/chocolate-menu/sponge-candy/

It's not sea foam or honey comb, it's its own thing. It's prevalent in, maybe native to, Western New York and every candy store and supermarket has it. The furthest west I've seen it is Cleveland and the furthest east somewhere shy of Syracuse. Wegman's is the Aladdin's Cave of grocery stores and began in Rochester, NY. It's routinely voted to be one of the top 5 best places to work. For many years, it was #1.

I just ordered a T shirt that says Wings, Beef on Weck, Sponge Candy, Chicken finger sub. The last one is new to me and personally I think it should be Paula's Donuts.

If you know all this plus key facts of the War of 1812, the only 4 important presidents (McKinley, Cleveland, T. Roosevelt, Fillmore), and the scow at the Falls, consider yourself one of the family. Oh. You will also have to commit a blood sacrifice for the Bills.

 

Edited January 5, 2020 by ABay

[peeayebee]

I'm a big fan of Violet Crumble (which I always mistakenly call Velvet Crumble), which looks like that pic of sponge candy. It's described as chocolate-covered honeycomb. What's the difference?

[GrannySmith]

1 hour ago, ABay said:

This is sponge candy https://www.aletheas.com/shop/chocolate-menu/sponge-candy/

It's not sea foam or honey comb, it's its own thing. It's prevalent in, maybe native to, Western New York and every candy store and supermarket has it. The furthest west I've seen it is Cleveland and the furthest east somewhere shy of Syracuse. Wegman's is the Aladdin's Cave of grocery stores and began in Rochester, NY. It's routinely voted to be one of the top 5 best places to work. For many years, it was #1.

I just ordered a T shirt that says Wings, Beef on Weck, Sponge Candy, Chicken finger sub. The last one is new to me and personally I think it should be Paula's XDonuts.

If you know all this plus key facts of the War of 1812, the only 4 important presidents (McKinley, Cleveland, T. Roosevelt, Fillmore), and the scow at the Falls, consider yourself one of the family. Oh. You will also have to commit a blood sacrifice for the Bills.

 

Don’t forget white hots!  

[Sharpie66]

I love hearing about regional candies! Being from Joliet, IL, our local candy is G-Shaft candy, a hard licorice-y, brown-sugar-y, minty candy that is super-tasty. It was sold in the local drugstore when I was a kid, but now is only at the local candy/chocolate store. When I pop in there in October to get their caramel apples (only sold from mid-September through Halloween), I always get a bag of G-Shaft. 
 

https://www.ccpld.org/coalmining/braidwood/braidwood_gshaft.html

[saber5055]

4 hours ago, ABay said:

The furthest west I've seen it is Cleveland and the furthest east somewhere shy of Syracuse.

Now you can say you've cyber-seen it in Wisconsin, Michigan, Iowa and Illinois. Blain's Farm & Fleet sells it under its own label in dark- and light-chocolate versions. It's currently on sale since it's considered a Christmas treat. If we'd had this conversation a day earlier, I would have bought a bag of each when I was there yesterday.

@Sharpie66, I'm two hours from Joliet but have never heard of G-Shaft candy, so thanks for the heads up. And @peeayebee, Violet Crumble is new to me as well. Where do you find it?

Edited January 5, 2020 by saber5055

[harrie]

22 minutes ago, saber5055 said:

Now you can say you've cyber-seen it in Wisconsin, Michigan, Iowa and Illinois. Blain's Farm & Fleet sells it under its own label in dark- and light-chocolate versions. It's currently on sale since it's considered a Christmas treat. If we'd had this conversation a day earlier, I would have bought a bag of each when I was there yesterday.

@Sharpie66, I'm two hours from Joliet but have never heard of G-Shaft candy, so thanks for the heads up. And @peeayebee, Violet Crumble is new to me as well. Where do you find it?

 

While comparing the recipes for sponge candy and sea foam, I ran into this Minnesota reference: This recipe has been in the family of senior editor Randi Danforth for generations. Her great-grandmother bought penny sponge candy to take to the movies in Minnesota.  

https://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/sponge-candy-2797

 

 

[Clanstarling]

Well, that will teach me to ignore small talk. Thanks to you all I have an ad blocker on my desktop and phone, and the ads on this site (and others) are no longer driving me crazy!

[ABay]

5 hours ago, GrannySmith said:

Don’t forget white hots!  

D'oh! I also forgot another non-food WNY need-to-know: Tesla was a genius. Edison was an asshole. Frank Lloyd Wright was both.

 

[Sharpie66]

Wow, Blain’s Farm and Fleet! That’s a blast from the past when I still listened to WGN radio and those commercials were always on. 

[saber5055]

3 hours ago, Sharpie66 said:

Wow, Blain’s Farm and Fleet! That’s a blast from the past when I still listened to WGN radio and those commercials were always on. 

LOL! I listen to WGN at night, overnight and mornings, and the Blain's commercials are still playing. Horse blankets on sale!

Edited January 6, 2020 by saber5055

[Sharpie66]

I remember visiting my grandma’s farm on the weekends as a kid, and she always had the noon crop report show on WGN radio playing. The family farm was sold years ago, but the family still owns land downstate in various plots spread between Kankakee and Peoria. So, I keep up on farm news and was even discussing this year’s regional crop yield with my mom when I stopped myself and said, “What have I turned into?!” 

[saber5055]

50 minutes ago, Sharpie66 said:

So, I keep up on farm news and was even discussing this year’s regional crop yield with my mom when I stopped myself and said, “What have I turned into?!” 

Yeay for Orion Samuelson! What you have turned into is a person with eclectic interests and knowledge and, therefore, someone who is the perfect jeopardy player. That, plus because of the crazy spring and summer weather, crop reports have been very interesting this year.

[Driad]

Did anyone else grow up hearing the Eastern Milk Producers' Co-Op jingle on the radio?

On my grandparents' farm I dealt more with the chickens than with the cows, though.

[annzeepark914]

On 1/5/2020 at 11:36 AM, GrannySmith said:

Don’t forget white hots!  

What are white hots? 

On 12/25/2019 at 9:58 PM, BuckeyeLou said:

Yay! That is a Christmas miracle!  Now settle in & 'on with the show" 🙂

Yeah...it's a Festivus Miracle!! Enjoy😍

[GrannySmith]

6 hours ago, annzeepark914 said:

What are white hots? 

Yeah...it's a Festivus Miracle!! Enjoy😍

Zweigle’s pop open white hots. Made in Rochester, NY. Delish. 

[saber5055]

20 hours ago, annzeepark914 said:

What are white hots? 

I guess they are hot dogs that are white instead of red. I found this photo of three whites with three reds. I guess a package of "red and whites" is sold. I don't know why they are called "pop open," unless the casing splits when they cook. Couldn't find a pic or explanation of that.

Lots of brats are white before they are cooked, and sort of a darker white after cooking. I guess these "white hot" dogs are made with similar stuff(ing).

[Prevailing Wind]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_hot

Apparently, it's the uncured meat that's white.

Still no explanation on Pop Open, but, like saber5055, I assume it's because the natural casing splits during cooking.

[Clanstarling]

3 hours ago, saber5055 said:

I guess they are hot dogs that are white instead of red. I found this photo of three whites with three reds. I guess a package of "red and whites" is sold. I don't know why they are called "pop open," unless the casing splits when they cook. Couldn't find a pic or explanation of that.

Lots of brats are white before they are cooked, and sort of a darker white after cooking. I guess these "white hot" dogs are made with similar stuff(ing).

To me they're not brats unless they're white - the way they came in my region of Germany/Austria. And I was raised to cook them until they platz (explode, or pop open). My favorite bratwursts were long and skinny. Yum.

What are called brats here tend to be quite different than what I grew up with (though I may not have experienced enough of them). I also grew up with weiss wurst (white sausage) that's slightly different.

Edited January 7, 2020 by Clanstarling

[saber5055]

25 minutes ago, Clanstarling said:

To me they're not brats unless they're white - the way they came in my region of Germany/Austria. And I was raised to cook them until they platz (explode, or pop open).

Sounds like you have described Zweigle’s pop open white hots!

[Clanstarling]

37 minutes ago, saber5055 said:

Sounds like you have described Zweigle’s pop open white hots!

It does.

[marypat57]

On 1/5/2020 at 5:55 PM, Sharpie66 said:

Wow, Blain’s Farm and Fleet! That’s a blast from the past when I still listened to WGN radio and those commercials were always on. 

I only 'discovered' Blain's Farm and Fleet this past Christmas.  I was searching for some Ball's Elite jam jars for my homemade holiday berry jam.  The jars were 7.99 for a package of 4 in our local Joann's Fabric and Crafts.  Way too much for my budget, so I turned to Google to see if anyone had them at a more reasonable price.  Blain's had them for 3.99 for the same package of 4.  I ordered 10 packages, plus a case of 1 pint jars, along with a package of jar lids.  All for about 50 dollars and were delivered to my home a few days later in 2 erormous boxes. The jars were so well protected by the air packaging that not a single jar was damaged.

Blain's will definitely be on my canning and preserving materials list from now on!  

[Sharpie66]

Oh, Joanns is always pretty expensive! When getting my DMC floss for my mega-sized cross-stitching projects, I always price-shop online sites to see who has it on sale. (My megaprojects are quite large, so the floss budget is really high—my current one is 220,000 stitches.) I only go to Joanns if I need an emergency color refill. 

[saber5055]

1 hour ago, marypat57 said:

Blain's will definitely be on my canning and preserving materials list from now on!  

Blain's has all kind of canning supplies, including the correct salt for making pickles, wax for sealing jellies, plus anything else you can think of. I'm glad you found them for your Ball jars. It runs specials from time to time, free shipping on a $49-or-more purchase, so keep your eyes peeled!

[GrannySmith]

19 hours ago, saber5055 said:

I guess they are hot dogs that are white instead of red. I found this photo of three whites with three reds. I guess a package of "red and whites" is sold. I don't know why they are called "pop open," unless the casing splits when they cook. Couldn't find a pic or explanation of that.

Lots of brats are white before they are cooked, and sort of a darker white after cooking. I guess these "white hot" dogs are made with similar stuff(ing).

Yes, the casing splits open when they cook. Both red and white Zweigle’s pop open. In your photo, you can see the red on the left is starting to pop open. 

[saber5055]

I'll have ya'll know that because of you, I made a special trip to my friendly local farm store where I bought a pound of dark chocolate sponge candy. Which I ate during the one-hour drive home via Interstate. Well, not all of it. There's still some left.

[zoey1996]

On 9/11/2019 at 2:45 PM, zoey1996 said:

Yay!  I googled and found it!  Ordered from the official Jeopardy site!  

Very happy with my Jeopardy! Calendar!  It’s a page a day.  Fun!

[ABay]

21 hours ago, saber5055 said:

I'll have ya'll know that because of you, I made a special trip to my friendly local farm store where I bought a pound of dark chocolate sponge candy. Which I ate during the one-hour drive home via Interstate. Well, not all of it. There's still some left.

You're welcome.

[saber5055]

2 hours ago, zoey1996 said:

Very happy with my Jeopardy! Calendar!  It’s a page a day.  Fun!

Give us a sample page, please!

Now I'm on the look out for pop-open white hots. Sounds so delicious.

[GrannySmith]

11 minutes ago, saber5055 said:

Give us a sample page, please!

Now I'm on the look out for pop-open white hots. Sounds so delicious.

Zweigles.com sells them online. Otherwise, you need to be in the Rochester, NY area to find them. 

[saber5055]

26 minutes ago, GrannySmith said:

Otherwise, you need to be in the Rochester, NY area to find them. 

This is no kidding! I looked online and they aren't even sold in Buffalo or Albany.  Way to keep a great food to yourselves, Rochester-ites.

[zoey1996]

15 hours ago, saber5055 said:

Give us a sample page, please!

Friday January 10

Category: His Own Museum, $1,200 clue

A museum devoted to this scientist and inventor is housed in what was originally the Tuskegee campus laundry.

Spoiler

Who is George Washington Carver?

Fun fact: he lived for a brief time in Minneapolis, Kansas, where I graduated high school several decades later.

[saber5055]

Yeay, thanks @zoey1996. I'm 1/1 in the Calendar Quiz. I did not know there was a Minneapolis in Kansas though, so if that were a question, I'd fail. But now I know! Another nugget of knowledge has been filed away ...

[illdoc]

19 hours ago, saber5055 said:

Give us a sample page, please!

I had a J! calendar one year. The subject/question is on the page with the date and you need to look on the back to see the answer. I used to just write my answer on the front and check the next day when I ripped off that page (that way, if I didn't know the answer, I could think about it all day).

[zoey1996]

Regarding "troth," it was used in traditional wedding vows.  When I was planning my wedding in 1989, I was researching vows.  I'd heard Pledge thee my troth before, but didn't really know what is meant.  It boils down to promising to be faithful.

We used Church of Canada vows.  We were married in the First Presbyterian Church in Old Cowtown, Wichita, by a Presbyterian minister.  DH was Episcopalian, and I was Presbyterian.  Our minister had to agree to use the Church of Canada vows.

"I take you to be my wife/husband; to laugh with you in joy; to grieve with you in sorrow; to grow with you in love; and to be faithful to you alone as long as we both shall live."

[Browncoat]

The TV guy has been here at my house since about 7:45 this morning (it is now 12:30), and he's not quite finished.  What we thought would be just a simple trading of receivers has turned into high drama.  Apparently the previous technician (from a few years ago) didn't do a thing, or did that thing wrong or something, so this guy is having to re-do a lot of stuff, including digging up, replacing, and re-burying the cable that runs from the dish to my house.  I guess the good thing (for the guy anyway) is that the precipitation we were meant to get today has yet to materialize.    I kind of feel bad for the guy -- this was way more than he expected, and it is cold outside! Hopefully he'll get finished soon, and I can get to the grocery store and do my other errands.  Oh, and be able to watch TV, too.

[saber5055]

11 minutes ago, Browncoat said:

The TV guy has been here at my house since about 7:45 this morning

That's amazing, I was guessing he wouldn't even be there yet. Good your weather is cooperating. No way could someone dig up a cable here, everything is frozen solid, blizzard snow, wind like we're in Patagonia (I just watched a show about that). I mistakenly did not pull the big garage door all the way down to meet the floor, there was a quarter-of-an-inch space, and now everything in the east side of the garage is covered in snow. *sigh*

So yeay to tv watching and a nice, warm blanket.

Edited January 18, 2020 by saber5055

[Browncoat]

I've got the nice, warm blanket, but the TV guy is still here (1:25ish), drilling holes in something in the basement to bring the cable upstairs to the new box.  And it has started to rain.  But it's 38 degrees F, so it should stay rain and not freeze or be snow or sleet.

Wait!  He just came inside, and said he's almost ready to pull the new cable upstairs!  He had to unhook the old one to pull it out, which he has now done.  There may be a light at the end of this tunnel, and it might just be the light from the television!

It's probably a good thing I only have one TV in my whole house.

[saber5055]

But especially for @lb60:

Happy Winnie the Pooh Day everyone. #WinnieThePoohDay

[Browncoat]

The TV guy finally finished and left just after 2.  And after tracking mud into my house on the carpet in the living room!  If they ask for a survey (and the often do), I'm definitely going to comment on now having to clean my carpet.  Just a few spots here and there, but still.  Not what I wanted to do today.

But I have TV back, and the local channels work!  I can watch Jeopardy! again!  Hooray!

[zoey1996]

13 minutes ago, Browncoat said:

The TV guy finally finished and left just after 2.  And after tracking mud into my house on the carpet in the living room!  If they ask for a survey (and the often do), I'm definitely going to comment on now having to clean my carpet.  Just a few spots here and there, but still.  Not what I wanted to do today.

But I have TV back, and the local channels work!  I can watch Jeopardy! again!  Hooray!

Still, 6 hours work!  

We used to have DirectTV, had to switch to cable due to a line of sight satellite issue.  But that’s a whole other story.