Small Talk: We'll Be Right Back

[CrystalBlue]

In three days, I will be celebrating being a nonsmoker for 20 years, after I quit cold turkey and never looked back.  I quit in February of 2001 and how I made it through the tragedy of 9/11, I'll never know.  (One of) the best decisions I ever made.  I can't imagine being a smoker nowadays.

[Annber03]

Twenty years is quite the milestone! Congratulations :). 

[CrystalBlue]

15 minutes ago, Annber03 said:

Twenty years is quite the milestone! Congratulations :). 

Thank you!  Now if I can just give up chocolate.  Nah...

[QuinnInND]

I only smoked for about 5 years and thankfully was able to quit easily.  Quit in 2002. 

[Bastet]

I only ever smoked casually; a pack would last me quite a few months, and I was lucky to never get hooked.

Then I didn't smoke at all for years, but came across an old pack with one cigarette left in it about ten years ago and enjoyed that out on the patio after a stressful day.  Several years ago, I had to go up to the gas station booth to pay as there was a problem at the pump, and had the fleeting thought that maybe I'd buy a pack to keep on hand for the rare occasions I'd want a smoke.  Holy cow, the price had gone up a metric shit ton since when I last purchased cigarettes!

Given how long a pack would last me, the cost could easily be justified, but I skipped it because I was so far removed from what was never even a habit to begin with that the notion left my mind about as quickly as it had entered it. 

[Gramto6]

I never smoked but grew up in a home where dad smoke at least a pack a day and both brothers smoked like chimneys. Fortunately I was out and about and out of the house at 18 so no long term problems... I just couldn't see the draw to smoking...

[Annber03]

Yeah, I never smoked, either, but I had a lot of relatives who did, and some of my friends' parents did. Some of them still do, some quit a number of years back. 

I just could never stand the smell. It always gave me a headache and I hated how my clothes smelled like smoke after I'd visit said relatives or friends. 

[Crashcourse]

One of the best things in my life to happen was when I was 12, I stole a cigarette out of my uncle's pack.  I went in the bathroom, took a couple puffs, started hacking and coughing and crawling around on all fours.  Took me a while to get my breath back.  Thankfully, no one saw me.  I never smoked another cigarette after that.   😱 

[QuinnInND]

I thought it made me look grown up and sophisticated. Of course, I was 15 at the time, so there's that. 

[Prevailing Wind]

My Grandfather smoked a pipe or cigars; the rest of the family were non-smokers, so we were astonished when my brother married a smoker.  SIL finally got around to trying to quit and her BFF gave her one of those cigarette "purses" with an exterior pocket for the lighter for Christmas. My brother was so angry at the BFF.  But...after 9 years, they wanted to have a baby and the OB-GYN of choice would not accept any patients who smoked, so SIL finally was able to quit. Now she can't understand how the hell she was able to smoke for so many years.  The BFF still smokes, over 50 years later.

I puffed twice on a cigar when a boss's wife had a baby.  I'm very happy I never had a least desire to smoke.

[mmecorday]

I have been smoking since I was sixteen. 😞 But I live with someone who has asthma so I have to smoke outside, which has curtailed my bad habit quite a bit. I go through about a pack a week now.

So have you heard about that baked feta and pasta dish? I tried it tonight. Probably the easiest thing I've ever cooked. Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Put two pints of cherry or grape tomatoes in a 9x13 casserole dish and pour half a cup of olive oil over them. Sprinkle with fresh ground black pepper and salt (I used Kosher salt). Make sure all the tomatoes are properly coated with the olive oil and S&P. Plop a seven ounce block of feta in the center of the tomatoes. Sprinkle all with a little died oregano. Put it in the oven and cook for 40 minutes. Once cooked, mash the roasted tomatoes and feta gently with the back of a wooden spoon. Fold in cooked, drained pasta of your choosing (I used medium shells) and stir together. Serve in a pasta bowl and garnish with fresh basil. I thought it was pretty good, but my girlfriend said it tasted too sour. Heh. More for me!

[peacheslatour]

That looks like it would taste really fresh and good. I wonder if it would work with ricotta.

[Prevailing Wind]

I like your tablecloth!  And, yeah, the recipe looks good & sounds easy!  (and yummy - I love Feta.)

[Bastet]

I don't love cooked tomatoes, so I usually make pasta with pesto, alfredo, brown butter, cream, etc. sauces, but I don't hate them, either; I just don't often care to take the time to make a tomato-based sauce when it's pretty far down my list, eating it at other people's homes instead.  But that's so fresh and easy (and I love so many kinds of feta cheese!), I'll have to give it a try when tomato season rolls around again and there's a night I want to just pop something in the oven with minimal work.

[QuinnInND]

That looks so amazing!! Yum! 

[CrazyInAlabama]

Because of the TikTok video, Feta cheese is sold out in many grocery stores.   So you may have to wait to try the recipe.  

[mmecorday]

Yeah, the blocks of feta are in short supply, but apparently the crumbled feta works just as well.

[CrystalBlue]

4 hours ago, icemiser69 said:

I have several cans of canned cherry tomatoes on the shelf.  They add texture to sauce and aren't overly acidic.  I like them much more than canned plum tomatoes.  Fresh cherry and grape tomatoes can turn in a heart beat if they aren't stored properly.   It doesn't take much for them to get moldy.

I don't follow what is popular, and I don't like trends, never have.  I avoid them as much as possible.   I just do my own thing and don't care if it is popular or not.  

I pretty much hate trends too.  When the trend becomes too ubiquitous I've lost interest.  Regardless of conventional wisdom and package warnings, I store all my tomatoes in the refrigerator.  Do you ever use Contadina canned tomatoes?

[Ashforth]

20 hours ago, chessiegal said:

Here you go.

Guy Fieri

[Please see my post several below to see what I was really responding to]

I had a deep loathing for Guy Fieri for years, but I've actually come to appreciate him, particularly given his fundraising in support of restaurant owners and employees during the COVID-19 pandemic. Given that, I would never say that anyone should like a celebrity that they don't like, but I must say that I don't see how this episode of Hot Ones makes him look like an asshole. 

His final takeaway: teach your kids to cook. How is that objectionable?

 

 

 

Edited February 28, 2021 by Ashforth

[chessiegal]

3 minutes ago, Ashforth said:

I had a deep loathing for Guy Fieri for years, but I've actually come to appreciate him, particularly given his fundraising in support of restaurant owners and employees during the COVID-19 pandemic. Given that, I would never say that anyone should like a celebrity that they don't like, but I must say that I don't see how this episode of Hot Ones makes him look like an asshole. 

His final takeaway: teach your kids to cook. How is that objectionable?

I wasn't commenting on Guy. I was responding to a poster who said they had never heard him pronounce his name and giving them an example.

[Ashforth]

1 minute ago, chessiegal said:

I wasn't commenting on Guy. I was responding to a poster who said they had never heard him pronounce his name and giving them an example.

i know, I apologize for any misunderstanding - my comment was directed at the person who responded to your post. I'll try to fix it.

[Ashforth]

3 hours ago, Ubiquit0us said:

Wow, what a douchebag! I think he's even worse than when I hate-watched his shows on Food Network, which amazes me.

Okay, THIS is what I was attempting to respond to. I am unable to insert it into my first post. 😞

[Prevailing Wind]

Re: Guy Fieddy. (sic)

When I was in high school, I had a friend whose mom was a Cuban immigrant. Jane, my friend, had a lot of Cuban friends in her neighborhood. One of 'em was a younger (middle school age) girl that Jane called Soddy.  When Jane's Anglo friends met her, we all called her Soddy.  Years later, i discovered the girl's name was Sara and they called her Sari as a nickname - will that rolled R. Sari's Anglo friends called her Sara! I felt like a pretender. Who was I to go around rolling Rs?  I think the term now is cultural appropriation and that's exactly what it felt like to me.  And that's what all those people pronouncing Guy's name "Fieddy" sound like.

I'm not of Latin heritage; I have no business rolling Rs.  Likewise, I knew a woman who had a teacher who refused to pronounce "Don Kee-hodie" - she said she wasn't Spanish; she was going to pronounce it according to rules of English pronunciation: "Don Kwiks-oat."  It;s a slippery slope.

[SweetieDarling]

6 hours ago, Prevailing Wind said:

Re: Guy Fieddy. (sic)

When I was in high school, I had a friend whose mom was a Cuban immigrant. Jane, my friend, had a lot of Cuban friends in her neighborhood. One of 'em was a younger (middle school age) girl that Jane called Soddy.  When Jane's Anglo friends met her, we all called her Soddy.  Years later, i discovered the girl's name was Sara and they called her Sari as a nickname - will that rolled R. Sari's Anglo friends called her Sara! I felt like a pretender. Who was I to go around rolling Rs?  I think the term now is cultural appropriation and that's exactly what it felt like to me.  And that's what all those people pronouncing Guy's name "Fieddy" sound like.

I'm not of Latin heritage; I have no business rolling Rs.  Likewise, I knew a woman who had a teacher who refused to pronounce "Don Kee-hodie" - she said she wasn't Spanish; she was going to pronounce it according to rules of English pronunciation: "Don Kwiks-oat."  It;s a slippery slope.

If that's how she was introduced to you, I would assume she was comfortable with you using that pronunciation. I don't think it's cultural appropriation to make an effort to pronounce someone's name correctly, or in the manner they prefer. Actually, I consider it respectful. I guess mileage varies. If she had been introduced to you as Sara, and you chose to call her Soddy because you assumed that is the "correct" pronunciation, given her heritage, or because her close friends of similar heritage call her that, imo, that would be cultural appropriation, but I'm old, so I might be wrong.

 

ETA: I find the "Fieddi" pronunciation to be annoying, and used by people trying to sound cool or intelligent. Completely different situation than yours.

Edited March 2, 2021 by SweetieDarling

[Katy M]

7 hours ago, Prevailing Wind said:

Years later, i discovered the girl's name was Sara and they called her Sari as a nickname - will that rolled R. Sari's Anglo friends called her Sara! I felt like a pretender. Who was I to go around rolling Rs?  I think the term now is cultural appropriation and that's exactly what it felt like to me.  And that's what all those people pronouncing Guy's name "Fieddy" sound like.

I don't think correctly, or attempting to correctly, pronounce someone's name is cultural appropriation.  I think anglicizing names is cultural erasure.  I mean if you can't roll your r's you can't roll your r's.  I know i can't.  

[peacheslatour]

"Don Qwiks-oat"? That's a new one.

[Ashforth]

2 hours ago, SweetieDarling said:

If that's how she was introduced to you, I would assume she was comfortable with you using that pronunciation. I don't think it's cultural appropriation to make an effort to pronounce someone's name correctly, or in the manner they prefer. Actually, I consider it respectful. I guess mileage varies. 

This x100. I have a friend named Mayra who is Latina, she she pronounces it "myda" with the "d" being a gently rolled "r". Not "Myra". I call her by her name as she pronounces it, because THAT IS HER NAME. If she pronounced it "Myra" I would call her "Myra". 

@Prevailing Wind, I assume that if your friend wanted you to call her "Sara" she would have said so. No need to feel as if you did something wrong.

If Guy Fieri pronounces his name "Fietty" that is a-ok with me, and I don't think it's stupid for other people to use his preferred pronunciation. 

[Prevailing Wind]

Thanks for easing my mind. I really haven't thought about it in the over 50 years since, until this Fieddie ad showed up.

[Moose135]

7 hours ago, peacheslatour said:

"Don Qwiks-oat"? That's a new one.

Sounds like a breakfast cereal...

[Katy M]

15 hours ago, Moose135 said:

Sounds like a breakfast cereal...

It can be like Quaker Oats, but instead of the quaker on the front, they'll have a Spaniard with the hat and the feather.  And a sword.

[Prevailing Wind]

5 hours ago, Katy M said:

It can be like Quaker Oats, but instead of the quaker on the front, they'll have a Spaniard with the hat and the feather.  And a sword.

Of course, they won't be a long-cooking kind, as they're QuiksOat.  Probably ground to instant form in a windmill.

[CrystalBlue]

9 hours ago, icemiser69 said:

My GI doctor wants me to be on a medication that stops my stomach from bleeding, my regular doctor wants me off them.  What to do, what to do.  I have been off the over the counter medication since last October and my stomach started bleeding again by November.  I decided to go back on the pills a few days ago. My regular doctor can shove it.

This time I didn't wait until I couldn't walk two steps without getting extremely dizzy and winded due to blood loss.  I was hospitalized once for that shit, and I signed myself out, because I was getting stressed out in the hospital.  They had moved a patient into my hospital room, that patient was a really doozy.  Even before that, I was stressing out just being in the hospital.  I am not going to go through that again.

Your primary care physician should be deferring to your GI specialist.  Some medications just can't be discontinued.  Take it easy and be good to yourself.  I hope your situation improves soon!

[Prevailing Wind]

From annoying commercials:

5 hours ago, Gramto6 said:

Since I lost the love of my heart Baby Boo a few years ago, I am feeding local feral cats up to 3 sometimes 4, one maybe pg. One good thing is they poop under the trees and I don't have to clean up anything. The one that maybe pg is a love and I would take her in in a minute, but she is shy and won't come to me...

 

I just saw a photo on FB with text suggesting that instead of paper plates, feed the ferals on a tortilla. After the kitties are done eating, the raccoons, birds, & opossums, etc. will clean up the tortillas.

[Browncoat]

A corn tortilla might be better for the other critters than a flour one, but that's a great idea!

[peacheslatour]

5 hours ago, Prevailing Wind said:

From annoying commercials:

 

I just saw a photo on FB with text suggesting that instead of paper plates, feed the ferals on a tortilla. After the kitties are done eating, the raccoons, birds, & opossums, etc. will clean up the tortillas.

And rats. 

[Gramto6]

11 hours ago, peacheslatour said:

And rats. 

LOL! I have a corningware soup bowl for their food  and plastic bowl for water as in the winter it freezes and is easy to pop out the ice and replace it with fresh water in 2 stations. This evening when I went to put out the last meal for whoever wanted it, Fluffy Fluffer was sitting on the bench and there was  bunch of cat puke in the dish and nearby. This is the one I think might be pg...noticed signs of heat a couple of weeks ago. Don't know if she was the perp or not, but I cleaned the dish and put put some new food which she gobbled up (tossed the old food out on the deck) A couple hours later I turned on the porch light and Rocky Racoon was very busy eating all the leftover food in the dish and puke on deck making it all clean again. Nature's cleaning method.

Edited March 7, 2021 by Gramto6

[Prevailing Wind]

Bosco likes to do the "scarf and barf" but the food is in the kitchen & the water bowl is on the counter in the bathroom. He eats, he goes to drink, he barfs...sometimes right into the water dish.  Makes it really easy to clean up, so I don't need to invite any raccoons inside. LOL.

I try to sift the boxes twice a day; dump, clean & refill once a week - I've decided that I should do that on the day before Friday - Turds-day.

I do set the alarms on my phone for 8-hour intervals to feed Bosco & Stella. They get ¼ c. of diet kibble 3 times a day. Since lockdown, my sleeping schedule is all out of whack, so I need the alarms to remind me what time it is. It's not that I can't remember when to feed them; I can't remember what day or time it is.

[Bastet]

3 hours ago, Gramto6 said:

This is the one I think might be pg...noticed signs of heat a couple of weeks ago.

Is there an organization/clinic in your area that can help you with the T and provide you with the N part of the TNR (Trap, Neuter/Spay, Release) practice that is best for community cats? 

[Gramto6]

I do have to look into that. Unfortunately I am in the boonies of MT and my neighbor's dog greatest fun is treeing this sweet kittie up high into a cottonwood tree which I amazingly couldn't believe it could get up let alone later get down again. Stray cats here are sadly fodder, but I will look into if there is any TNR  programs here

Edited March 7, 2021 by Gramto6

[Ubiquit0us]

19 hours ago, Leeds said:

Do you have a cell phone?  I use mine to set reminders for lots of silly little things that I otherwise forget.  (Though I'm now wondering whether this is just exacerbating my middle-age onset memory loss.)

I tried to set my computer's calendar,  but I must have been doing it wrong or my cat doesn't consistently pee.

 

18 hours ago, SoMuchTV said:

Sorry if I’m veering off into small talk territory, but isn’t it obvious by sight and smell when the litter needs changing? 

I have a poor sense of smell,  so I don't notice until it starts turning green.

[tres bien]

Thought best to post this here.

The vegan butcher in Minneapolis that my daughter shops at makes vegan meats and cheeses and like a deli makes vegan sandwiches too

[Cobalt Stargazer]

1 minute ago, tres bien said:

The vegan butcher in Minneapolis that my daughter shops at makes vegan meats and cheeses and like a deli makes vegan sandwiches too

What is vegan meat? I've heard of vegan leather, but that's commonly known as plastic.

[Moose135]

2 hours ago, Cobalt Stargazer said:

What is vegan meat?

It's not meat...

[tres bien]

2 hours ago, Cobalt Stargazer said:

What is vegan meat? I've heard of vegan leather, but that's commonly known as plastic.

Plant based meat and cheese alternatives. Like Burger King's Whopper made with a plant based burger. And BTW vegetarian doesn't necessarily mean vegan

Edited March 8, 2021 by tres bien

[Trini]

2 hours ago, tres bien said:

vegan butcher

They should probably find a better term to use, since, besides being a contradiction, I bet it's probably confusing to a good number of people.

[dleighg]

7 minutes ago, Trini said:

I bet it's probably confusing to a good number of people.

especially since "butcher" as a verb means chopping up an animal. This kind of "butcher" is doing something completely different. And I don't think most people think of a butcher as having very much to do with cheese, vegan or otherwise.

[peacheslatour]

49 minutes ago, dleighg said:

especially since "butcher" as a verb means chopping up an animal. This kind of "butcher" is doing something completely different. And I don't think most people think of a butcher as having very much to do with cheese, vegan or otherwise.

I remember when Wally Cleaver was an ice cream butcher. This is equally confusing.

[Katy M]

59 minutes ago, peacheslatour said:

I remember when Wally Cleaver was an ice cream butcher. This is equally confusing.

An ice cream butcher freezes a cow and then chops it up in order to remove the ice cream.

[peacheslatour]

17 minutes ago, Katy M said:

An ice cream butcher freezes a cow and then chops it up in order to remove the ice cream.

You have to have brown cows to get chocolate though.

[Katy M]

11 minutes ago, peacheslatour said:

You have to have brown cows to get chocolate though.

No.  That's a common misconception. You feed the cow the flavor you want before you freeze them.