Great, now the liberal fascists are going after our children.

You should be jealous. Whole Foods cooking classes are the best, miles better than the poxy ones at Wild Oats.

They can teach the tykes the difference between yellow mustard and honey mustard at an early age so they won't grow up to screw up your sandwiches.

I'd pay a nice premoium for free-range, organic six-year-olds.

Like a premium, but more emo.

How many six-year-olds could you braise in a fight, Standpipe?

Six-year-olds have had a year to overcome their fear of braising, so I'd say infinite, give or take.

The point being, they pretty much braise themselves. I do have to wonder why more of us didn't just turn into delicious meat in our early youth. Fluoride in the water supply?

I had a really nice sandwich for lunch today, let me tell you.

8: hi, we did, Earth Raper. Signed, the Vegans.

Whole Foods has a great cheese selection. I'm going to go to one of their cheese-tasting-class things soon.

Just out of curiousity, Cryptic Ned, whereabouts do you live?

I'm torn between being happy for the kids and wanting to mock the whole idea of building brand loyalty by having cooking classes for kids who might be able to cut paper.

M/tch, are you challenging Ned to a Whole-Foods-Off?

ogged, does your mom teach six-year-olds? Or just take them places? If the former, your mom and my mom have that in common; if the latter, it's my uncle Reginald who's the basis for comparison.

14: No, I'm preparing the groundwork for some potential snobbery regarding the notion of Whole Foods having a "great cheese selection". But shhhhhhhh, don't tell Ned!

Also, I hate Whole Foods, primarily due to John Mackey's horrible politics, but there's a lot about the company's overall approach that bugs me as well. Don't tell ogged though, he's crazy about Whole Foods, and won't even consider living in neighborhoods that are insufficiently close to one.

Pittsburgh.

Whole Foods has a better cheese selection (except for Italian cheeses) than the great local cheese/pasta/other Italian stuff store. Although they complement each other. And Whole Foods's cheese is shrinkwrapped which may be bad depending on how long it has been sitting there shrinkwrapped.

In this interesting book there is a list of recommended places with great cheese selections, and none of them are in Pittsburgh, so I reject your snobbery on the basis of lack of alternatives.

text, your mom and my mom have that in common.

M/llsy, I haven't had cheese in a while, but from what I recall, Whole Foods' cheeses tend to be pretty mediocre. Sometimes I think I like Whole Foods mostly because they don't use fluorescent lighting in their stores.

they pretty much braise themselves

Just add water, makes its own sauce.

having cooking classes for kids who might be able to cut paper

Are you kidding? I started cooking when I was five (no lessons, hands on).

I don't know how you can say "Whole Foods' cheeses tend to be pretty mediocre". Do you mean they store them at the wrong temperature or something? They have a good but not fully comprehensive selection of cheeses that are known to be good. Quicke's cheddar is a good cheese, and there it is, at Whole Foods, but not at the normal grocery store.

McGinnis Sisters is a little south of Pittsburgh proper (what would you call that? Brentwood maybe? It's through the Liberty Tubes) but has very nice cheese, from what I remember. It's sort of sweet in there.

What kind of cheese have you gotten from there that was good?

I've been there a couple times but wasn't looking for that.

20: oh me too
and baking still earlier, but well supervised.

eventually my mom made my brother and me responsible for dinner one night a week each. but she believed in main dish + sides, and that takes good timing, so definitely for an older me: 11. i had the most dreadful specialties too... ham and cooked broccoli wrapped in little pillsbury biscuits and baked, and drizzled with cheese sauce... shake and bake chicken... ah youth

do any of you parents let your children make you dinner?

Honestly, I don't remember. I haven't lived in the burgh for the last few years and while I remember going there and leaving with a bunch of soft cheeses, among other things, I can't remember what. I could very well be wrong, either via cloudy memory or lack of sophistication.

for further evidence to my lack of sophistication, I'll submit that the ham and broccoli biscuit thing in 24 sounds pretty good to me.

she believed in main dish + sides, and that takes good timing

Oh, yes, timing! That was so hard to learn. Especially in a family that followed the three-minute rule for fresh corn*, and the just-steamed rule for broccoli....ayyyy.

*What is it with these savages who boil their corn for an hour, anyway?

kids who might be able to cut paper

Six-year olds can scramble eggs, prepare buttered toast, and slice fruit. Once he gets the hang of the espresso maker, I figure another three months, mine will know how to serve breakfast, though at the cost of a spectacular mess in the kitchen. Also, he's hard to mitivate in the morning.

21: Re: The mediocrity of the Whole Foods cheese selection.

Whole Foods got a deal on stilton this year, so they went with the mediocre option. Bread and Circus (which was bought out by WF in the early 90's, but whose name stayed on the New England stores until the late 90's early oughts) and even WF several years ago used to make room for at least some of the high-end Stilton.

M/tch M/lls in 16:

I hate Whole Foods, primarily due to John Mackey's horrible politics, but there's a lot about the company's overall approach that bugs me as well.

I agree. I'd also add that in New England they are expanding too quickly which means that the new stores are cannibalizing some of the old ones.

Also, he's hard to mitivate in the morning.

Six-year-olds are hard to mitigate anytime.

Much like in the Barnes & Noble discussion, I'm not suggesting that Whole Foods has the best cheese selection in Boston or the Bay Area. But it might in Pittsburgh.

24: do any of you parents let your children make you dinner?

My 5-year old is working up towards that goal. She loves to cook (scrambled eggs and basic sautes). She's still learning knife skills; but I don't expect it will be much longer before she'll prepare a full meal.

29: if you're looking for high end stilton, head for New Bedford.

Actually for gourmet food in general head to New Bedford. Strange but true.

New Bedford meetup at Sid Wainer this Saturday! I'll be there, who's in?

from what I recall, Whole Foods' cheeses tend to be pretty mediocre

Depends. The one on 4th and Harrison in The City generally has a pretty good cheese selection. Not as good as the Cheeseboard or Country Cheese, natch, but better than "pretty mediocre".

26 - Growing up in the Midwest we did something similar with a hot dog and cheese wrapped in a crescent roll. Scoff all you want but it was good, haters.

so I reject your snobbery on the basis of lack of alternatives.

My snobbery was only potential, not kinetic, so there's nothing to reject. I respect (and pity) your lack of alternatives.

My cheese snobbery is snobbier than your cheese snobbery.

32: Roamsedge, you inspire me. My eldest started cooking with me when she was not quite two years old (chocolate cake, as I recall), but I have kept her in a fairly unskilled sous-chef position well into her fifth year. If your 5-year old is making scrambled eggs on her own, by God I'm going to have to let mine give it a whirl, too.

What kind of stove do you have? (Thinking about avoiding burns here.)

I'm not scoffing, I think it sounds sweet. We used to do the mini-hot dog in crescent roll for parties. Also, to combine the tube-o-bread-batter and cheese discussions, I can testify that wrapping a tube of crescent role batter around a nice brie and then baking it for a spell with some maple syrup on top is utter perfection.

Mr. Rogers taught me how to eat a banana wrapped with cheese. And now he's dead.

Kids can cook, if rather nerve-wrackingly. I was baking (measuring, stirring, putting in the oven, etc.) at four and five, and was put in charge of making dinner (chicken-fried steak and mashed potatoes) at eight. That kinda sucked, though, because my mom wouldn't tell me amounts. I was good at measuring, but she would just say "Add some salt to some flour, and then beat some eggs" etc. It was annoying.

When my ten-year-old brother was put in charge of dinner, we were served chicken that was still pretty raw. The no-supervision policy was over at that point.

37: dude, bring it.

Actually that place looks to have more of a selection. But if you want a 6 pound wheel of high-end Manchego, now you know where to go.

HIGH-END MANDINGO YOU SAY?!

We did something similar with a hot dog and cheese wrapped in a crescent roll

I take pigs in blankets.

43: only the best black cocks for you, grams.

39 - Oh, don't worry. I didn't think you were scoffing. I just figured others would.

33: Sifu, apparently Framingham is a culinary capital now. There are a lot of bakeries out there which can't afford to operate in the city, so they bake out there and drive their goods in.

I don't own a car, so I'd have a hard time getting to New Bedford.

44: huh. I don't know if this is a regional thing (doubtful) or if my family is just strange/dumb, but we always used 'pigs in a blanket' as interchangeable with holuski. I had no idea it more largely signified the hot dog thing.

For you New Yorkers, this place is great for cheese (or at least it was when I live not three blocks away from it).

Sometimes I think I like Whole Foods mostly because they don't use fluorescent lighting in their stores.

When I lived in LA several summers ago I was pretty near the Whole Foods in Brentwood, which is a very tony Whole Foods indeed. I only went in there a couple of times but I swear about 80% of the clientele must have been models.

32, 41 &c.: My daughters had their first cooking classes this summer, and they're four. They've helped in the kitchen since they were two, and it's generally worth the mess. I think that making stuff regularly is key, because if kids learn how to do something in a class but don't apply it at home, it won't stick. I took some classes when I was eight or so and don't remember much about them.

One of my sisters and I took over cooking for the family when she was 12 and I was 11. Kids that age are totally capable of cooking most things, and with a little guidance and inspiration can be better at it than most adults I know.

38: What kind of stove do you have? (Thinking about avoiding burns here.)

Oh, the very basic coil-electric stove. She's fairly comfortable with the thing, but she does use a step stool to achieve a safe working height.

Of course, my wife, or I, tend to hover close-by.

Holuski? You mean the noodles-cabbage-butter dish?

Where's the pig? Where's the blanket? Your parents are weird, man..

Pigs in a blanket always meant stuffed cabbage rolls to my grandmother and my family. Everywhere else it seems to mean those nasty hot dog things.

Okay, apparently all your kids are prodigies and I'm backwards, but I think I helped with cookies when I was six. No talk about developing my knife skills. (Speaking of which, I heart my new chopping knife. Get married so people give you money for cool toys.)

Bedford Cheese Shop is really fun. Their cheese descriptions are hilarious and borderline repulsive (usually comparing the cheese to a foul body stench and the sexual act it will make you want to perform). But Murray's is the best, hands down, right?

I'd offer to drive people down, but I'll already be on the south coast. Also, I'll be down there all weekend, so you'd have to catch a ride back on a whaling ship, and we all know how that goes. Somebody get BG to NB!

Sid Wainer has several professional chefs working on Saturday making example dishes that you can taste for free. So y'all know.

55 to 47, you talkative bastards.

Pigs in blankets is sausage wrapped in pancakes, according to IHOP, and god knows I trust IHOP over you weirdos.

Pigs in a blanket always meant stuffed cabbage rolls to my grandmother and my family.

Stuffed with pork at least? Because otherwise, that just makes no damn sense at all.

Get married so people give you money for cool toys.

Or just spend the X thousands you would have spent on a wedding on tricking out your kitchen instead. Less family drama that way, too.

right, there was pork stuffing involved I think. Maybe I am wrong in thinking we used it to mean the same thing as holuski, but both definitely invoked some disgusting cabbagey porky thing that I wouldn't let near my mouth.

Rachel, are you Cala's grandmother?

Further, as "hot dogs" makes no damn sense, it seems baseless to quibble about the sensical-ness of "pigs in a blanket." Cabbage leaves are more blanket-y than baked bread anyway.

59, I couldn't disagree more. If you have to have one or the other, take the wedding, skip the marriage.

What kind of stove do you have? (Thinking about avoiding burns here.)

I learned on an electric, and actually did know a family in which a young child was badly burned by a fire from a gas stove. But there were complicating factors (flammable liquid, loose-fitting dress).

My sister terrified a childhood friend by nonchalantly demonstrating her (excellent) knife skills at age four.

And there's always the '70s classic Kids Cooking Without a Stove.

My family always called cabbage leaves "hot dachshund sausages".

58: Beef or lamb. And rice.
59: See, people say that, but you know, my parents would spend lots of money on a wedding but oddly wouldn't just give me the cash.

I have a cousin named Rachel.

Beef or lamb. And rice.

IZ NOT PIG.

61: Maybe. Cala, have I ever bitingly critiqued your hair/wardrobe and/or morbidly predicted my own death? If so, I am definitely grandmothering you in the only way I know how.

"Cala, that outfit is so unattractive, I'll get hit by a bus next Thursday."

Cala, are you from SW PA? Now that you invoke the rice, I am sure that is what was in our pigs in a blanket cabbage rolls as well.

But definitely rice and pork. Shredded.

More like, "Cala, those jeans are so hideous, god-willing, I won't live to see the next time you put them on."

Pigs in a blanket:

In the United States, the term "pigs in a blanket" usually refers to hot dogs, Vienna sausages, or link sausages wrapped in biscuit dough or crescent-roll dough, and baked. A common variation is to slit the hot dog or sausage and stuff it with cheese before wrapping in dough. The dough is sometimes homemade, but canned dough is most common.

Anyone who says otherwise is fucking weird.

Ugh, canned dough. I didn't know this stuff existed until junior-high home economics class, and I was appalled even then.

Mr. Rogers taught me how to eat a banana wrapped with cheese. And now he's dead.

Based only on the above, he had it coming.

According to FoxNews, Mr. Rogers ruined an entire generation.

rachel, also SW PA. But you can't be my grandmother.

Suck it, Brock:

In regions heavily influenced by Slovak immigrants, the term usually refers instead to stuffed cabbage rolls, such as the Polish or Ukrainian Gołąbki.

77: Those anti-Mr. Rogers people are moral monsters.

79: Word. I don't like them just the way they are.

The anit-Mr Rogers lobby makes me want to hit people. Which Mr Rogers wouldn't like. There is this great, maybe apocryphal, story in Pittsburgh about how his car was stolen off the PBS lot one day and there was a write up in the paper about it. The next day, the car was returned with a note that read, "If we'd known it was yours, we never would have taken it."

81: It's in teh wiki, so it must be true. Right?

Why do these people who hate Mr. Rogers think that every zygote is special but not every child deserves dignity and respect?

Mr. Rogers and the "just the way you are" message was really, really important to me as a little kid.

Then again, I did grow up to be kinda lazy and ambitionless.

54: I loved the descriptions at Bedford, and the staff was always really helpful and very good at making recommendations. Murray's I always found cramped and crowded and harried, although I moved away right about the time they were opening their new, more spacious digs, so maybe that's changed.

Bedford was also cramped, but usually not crowded, so the staff could take the time to really work with you and get to know you rather than trying to get you processed so they could get to the next customer. And while Bedford didn't have a huge selection on hand, everything they had was excellent, and they always had a rotating selection of quirky cheeses from very small obscure producers to try.

(Warning: if you click through to the muffybolding link, it will make you cry at work.)

holuski

Halušky are dumplings. You can stuff them with cabbage or meat, but cheese-filled is most popular, look for bryndzové halušky. Like traditional stew or soup, they can be good when prepared competently, but this rarely happens. There's also a bastardization of a pastry, Koláče, popular in Texas. Partially redeemed by the Polka rhythms to be found in a lot of Tex-Mex accordion music.

Wow apo, that was so... earnest.

Damn you. Does everything you link to have to be bad to read at work?

81: Right. Truthiness abounds.

77: How the hell do they come up with that shit? Under what slimy rock does Fox find those people?

And why did they have the fucking weather guy weighing in on how Mr. Rogers ruined a generation? Jesus.

Jonah Goldberg book subtitle entry: From Fred Phelps to Fred Rogers.

I met Mr. Rogers when I was maybe 5 years old. I was terrified and hid behind my mother's leg, but he was as kind and as goodhearted in person as he was on TV, and he managed to coax me out to actually say hello to him.

You don't understand. I coulda had class. I coulda been a contender. I coulda been somebody, instead of a bum, which is what I am, let's face it. It was you, Mr. Rogers.

New Bedford meetup at Sid Wainer this Saturday! I'll be there, who's in?

This is very tempting. Sid Wainer rocks. I don't go down there as much as I should, especially since East Side Marketplace buys from them. But it's still very cool. And New Bedford does have some fine food, especially if you like Portuguese. And hey, isn't the big Portuguese festival happening this weekend? It is!

I worked on a few projects for the Whaling Museum about six or seven years ago. The single thing I remember most clearly is that century-old reindeer hide stinks to the heavens--always keep your face away when opening a package of it.

We less yupped up parents (yeah yeah, I know) just buy our kids EZ bake ovens. Voila, cake!

The single thing I remember most clearly is that century-old reindeer hide stinks to the heavens--always keep your face away when opening a package of it.

NOW you tell us.

95: c'mon, let's do it! I've got access to a great beach y'all can come swim at afterwards! Remember, BG needs a lift.

The whaling museum is awesome, by the by.

C!

Re. kids cooking, PK can scramble an egg, make a cheese sauce (he needs a little help remembering the ingredients, but he can do it on his own), make sandwiches, etc. He has made us dinner a couple of times--pb&j once, and another time butter sandwiches with sliced carrots and parsley.

And when you're that wiped out, butter sandwiches with carrots and parsley are *just fine*.

Voila, cake!

s/b Voila, koi en papillote!

There's also a bastardization of a pastry, Koláče, popular in Texas.

You are kidding me, lw. On the drive between Austin and Dallas is a bakery that makes piping hot koláčes 24-7. Mandatory exit.

Partially redeemed by the Polka rhythms to be found in a lot of Tex-Mex accordion music.

Get you to Gruene! You're talking about conjunto, I gather, though I've never thought about that the rhythms were particularly Polka-esque. It's the instrument itself, isn't it?

The whaling museum is awesome, by the by.

It's pretty cool, especially now since they spiffed it up a number of years ago. The first time I went was in high school, when we were reading Moby Dick, I guess 1984 or '85. If I remember correctly, we were very high. Spermacetti: also does not smell good, especially when high. My apologies if this warning arrives too late.

Blah, I'm pretty sure I'm going to carless and stuck in the Bucket on Saturday.

102: How did that happen? Can someone change that?

Kind of been covered, but I think not clearly enough:

Haluski (that's a 'sh' sound): cabbage and noodles/spätzle-like dumplings dish. Very buttery. Really great haluski includes shredded pork; I once ate probably 3 servings at a single seating of this version, in addition to some other heavy food. Holy shit, I just realized - it was a Pirates game, and I was in a luxo-box. God, that was good haluski.

Halupki/Golumpki: stuffed cabbage, more often pork IME. Often in a tomato sauce, for some reason.

It took me 10 years in Pittsburgh - where every ethnic church raises money by selling these items plus pyrohi/pierogies - to keep this distinction in mind.

I still haven't heard a justification for M/tch's cheese snobbery. That WF doesn't have the best cheese selection of any store on earth? What kind of rational standard is that? There are a few places around town that have some finer cheeses, but rarely so many, so it's a tradeoff (my experience in other non-metropoli as well). That said, while you can't get all the same cheeses at Penn Mac (which Ned referenced), what you get there (and it's about 100 cheeses) are almost certainly fresher.

fred rogers was fucking awesome. and he could have whipped voldemort's ass.

There are a few places around town that have some finer cheeses

O RLY? Where?

Do you mean that place on Walnut St. right near Aiken that's called something like Shadyside Ultra-Luxury Expensive Select Deli And Produce Boutique Market?

103:
It's called norteño, and the groups that play it are conjuntos. And it is polka-like, just lower tempo.

Tex-Mex polkas are real polkas, I'm pretty sure, but they seem to put an extra little jump at the end of each measure.

105: Got it.

Do you mean that place on Walnut St. right near Aiken that's called something like Shadyside Ultra-Luxury Expensive Select Deli And Produce Boutique Market?

You mean the Food Museum? I have no idea what their cheeses are like. Allegro Hearth on Murray Ave has a small selection of superb cheeses (disclosure: i've lost poker $$ to the owner). Alexander's on Smallman (which also has good pyrohi) has some obscure Eastern European cheeses unavailable elsewhere. I feel like there's 1 or 2 others I'm not thinking of, probably in tony suburbs.

s/b Voila, koi en papillote!

Nope. PK is totally fond of the koi, some of whom have names.

Allegro Hearth on Murray Ave has a small selection of superb cheeses (disclosure: i've lost poker $$ to the owner).

I know at least 3 employees of that place (one just moved to Chicago). Interesting.

Is Alexander's on Smallman related to Alexander's the Russian restaurant on Forward?

Apologies to everyone not interested in the topic of where to get cheese in Pittsburgh.

He doesn't need to know. Just blame the raccoons.

the topic of where to get cheese in Pittsburgh

Beats swimming or the Tour de France.

111: Thanks, man.

The first time I went was in high school, when we were reading Moby Dick

Happy Melville's Birthday!

115: No, no, the koi en papillote was supposed to be an EZBake recipe. I don't like fishing.

Strangely, I have not seen racoons. Just herons. PK seems okay with the fact that herons eat fish, somehow. He's a weird kid.

Is Alexander's on Smallman related to Alexander's the Russian restaurant on Forward?

I'm pretty certain not, but could be wrong.

Apologies to everyone not interested in the topic of where to get cheese in Pittsburgh.

Aw, screw them and their endless discussion of NC strip mall Vietnamese and Bay Area commutes.

But no one calls it norteño. And I really don't think a lot of it sounds like polka—it's traditional Spanish rhythms they're playing most often (it just so happens on an accordion).

More than 50,000 Polish-Americans live in the area around Houston, Texas. There is a rich tradition of Polish fiddling from Texas that had declined into obscurity until a recent revitalization by performers like Brian Marshall. Polish settlers arrived beginning in the middle of the 19th century, settling in Panna Maria, a village just south of San Antonio. A few decades later, a new wave of Polish migrants settled in Chappell Hill, Stoneham, Brenham, Bremond, Anderson, Carlos and New Waverly. These people's folk music consisted of bowed bass, fiddle and sometimes a clarinet, with the later additions of drums, accordions and guitars. Within Texas, Polish music was diverse, with a rhythmic style predominant in the Chappell Hill/Brenham area, and a melodic sound in Bremond. The group, Brave Combo is an example of what is commonly called within the industry Tex-Mex polka music. The Czech and Polish settlers in Texas had a major influence on the traditional Mexican folk music forming what we now know as Tejano music.

Happy Melville's Birthday!

Damn, so it is. To the Whaling Museum!

Beats swimming or the Tour de France.

Did I miss the TdF thread!?

Ah, here.

Ah, that's the Emerson we know and love. Authoritative and interesting paragraphs clearing up topics that nobody asked about. Far better than the cutesy-poo flirting and carp discussions.

Doesn't SoCal, like Iraq, have a lot of man-eating badgers? IIRC Mike Davis has written about the Chamber of Commerce cover-up of that story. (The CofC believes that the badgers reduce congestion.)

Sifu and JL: Go ahead and do whatever you want, but don't worry about me. I have to work on both Saturday and Sunday.

I will be eating a lot regardless, not to worry.

I will be eating a lot regardless, not to worry.
S/B
"The whole thing will be ruined if you don't show up, sweetie".

Right, that too. The linguica will turn to ashes in our mouths.

121: Thank you, Encyclopedia Brown, for the copy and paste, but all I'm arguing here is that Texicans didn't borrow the rhythms from German and Polish immigrants, they borrowed the instruments.

They borrowed the rhythms and the instruments.

It was a package deal. Half off.

There's a little rhythmic difference, as I said, but they sound like polkas to me and IIRC, people dance polkas to them. Also, note that the Poles didn't start out with accordians.

Mr. Rogers defends PBS to the Senate in 1969.
Somebody might have linked to this recently, but I love it.

"accordions"

131: Nooooo, they didn't take the rhythms. Zydeco is a positive example of a polka fusion in which the polka beat was imported and more less retained. Border music doesn't sound like that: in many conjunta arrangements, the accordion is promoted as a more melodic instrument. It doesn't carry the rhythm the way it does in polka. They don't even play in the same time signatures!

Here, for example, is Flaco Jiménez playing in a very Flaco Jiménez way and while I know this is a Dwight Yoakum cover of a Warren Zevon song and therefore not really up for conjunta consideration, it is the only Flaco Jiménez song that I have previously uploaded to my Web site.

(Not denying any influence per se; I worship at the Kreuz Market. Just saying that conjunta ain't polka.

There's more than one American polka style, even including accordionless polkas.

Maybe there are Texmex things that miscalled polkas, but there are real polkas too. And the Texmex polkas aren't identical to the others.

Partially redeemed by the polka rhythms to be found in a lot of Tex-Mex accordion music.

A reasonable statement, though maybe not true of the specific things you're thinking of.

Just saying that conjunta ain't polka.

Does not contradict the above, unless you're saying that there are no Tex-Mex polkas at all.

It's called norteño, and the groups that play it are conjuntos. And it is polka-like, just lower tempo.

Does contradict the above, in that the label "norteño" is used.

I'm at the end of my polka knowledge, but when I first heard Tex-Mex polkas, to may they sounded like polkas, which I had frequently heard before, The label "norteño" was not used so I can't speak to that.

My kids cook a bit. I did have things for a while last year so one evening a week I only had the older two, so they had to cook their own dinner, but I never ate it with them. They could do chicken, roast potatoes and carrots or something similar. The 9yo made herself cauliflower cheese for dinner a few nights ago.

The 4 year old has even developed a charming recipe of her own: spread mayonnaise on a slice of ham and roll it up.

Speaking of the TdF - we've decided that after years of talking about it, next year is definitely the year for a week or two watching some mountain stages.

And badgers don't exist. At least in this country. Mythical creatures, for sure.

I still haven't heard a justification for M/tch's cheese snobbery. That WF doesn't have the best cheese selection of any store on earth? What kind of rational standard is that?

Like I said, it was potential cheese snobbery. Imagine for example that Ned had answered that he lives in Manhattan. Surely then his declaration that Whole Foods has "a great cheese selection" would be ludicrous, no, and justly subject to ridicule/snobbery?

New Bedford meetup at Sid Wainer this Saturday!

Rats. I'll be in Detroit this weekend. Shall we try again? I need to punch Sifu in the arm for snarking at me.

I really liked Mr. Rogers, but I did not learn from him.

The only things I liked about Mr. Rogers were the puppet shows. The rest bored me.

You guys, I made the best damn gazpacho.

Wait, when did I snark?

I suppose "when didn't I snark?" would be a more apt question, but what was the specific instance?

I will also be at Great Scott in Allston tomorrow for this show, which is going to be awesome. If anybody wants to meet me there, I'm all for it.

If you don't know Neptune, they would not be out of place on w-lfs-n's show. More info here, a website here. Allegedly, there will also be baton twirling.

Anyhoo, yeah, show up, kids, free punches. If anybody's actually down to attend I'll give you a hint as to what I might be wearing.

C'mon, 9 bands. That's like a dollar a band. You know you want to.

I'm leaving tomorrow, but let's rap when I get back, Sifu.

Hokay. You're missing a great show.

Polish settlers arrived beginning in the middle of the 19th century, settling in Panna Maria, a village just south of San Antonio.

En el condado de Karnes
La desgracia ha sucedido.
Murió el cherife mayor
Quedando Roman herido.

Okay, time to flog this again: EVERYBODY IN BOSTON GO SEE NEPTUNE AT GREAT SCOTT TOMORROW I SWEAR TO GOD THEY'RE SO AWESOME PLUS YOU CAN PUNCH ME!

Topically, they do not play Polka.

Better than Uranus, I suppose.

New Bedford is more my speed than club shows in Allston, but as I said, I won't be able to make that. A pity, too, for I have such respect for the Portuguese for their genius in combining pork and clams. Truly an inspired people.

Hey, can it. My sociopath brother in law was Portuguese. They're no good all the way back to Henry the Navigator and Vasco de Gama.

Loving the food while hating the people is a time-honored practice, John. I'll bet lots of Ogged's detractors love Mexican food, for example.

149: say, that sounds fun! I hope some unfoggetarinoids show up!

151: Portuguese fisherman's stew is, indeed, a revelatory experience. Can't speak for the people, or the country, but that dish is beyond reproach. I'll eat some for you.

Hawaiian Portuguese.

Except for my bro-in-law, they seem to be fun. Supposed inventors of the ukelele and the steel guitar.

Billy Martin was Portuguese-American, from Berkeley, CA. His parents divorced because his father was continually being seduced by Berkeley coeds. True fact.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billy_Martin

154: you're sure right, that show sounds like a blast! I'll be there, I wonder who else is onboard?

Okay, I'll stop.

You guys, I made the best damn gazpacho.

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