Rice pudding, along with tapioca, remains on my Never Again list. My mom used to make sweet rice with milk and nutmeg and cinnamon and even the smell now sends me running. Texture is such an odd thing. It took me a long time to come around to grits, and even then, it's a gamble. So far, Clementine and Kiss My Grits win. Especially KMG. I asked for pot crust if they had it and they delivered. I'm hoping to indulge again tomorrow morning.

Because I am all about troubleshooting through reproducing the problem, I made that CI roast chicken where you turn off the oven partway through for dinner, this time using the temperature rather than time guidelines. First off, my replacement probe worked fine, so that's a good thing. Secondly, I am not at all sure about this whole internal temperature of the chicken rising 5 degrees after it comes out of the oven. I left the probe in while the chicken rested, and the temp definitely went up a degree or two, but I was making a pan sauce and didn't keep watching it. By the time I thought to look at it again, it was going down (and had gone down bunches). So I don't know if it got up to actual safe to eat chicken temperature before it declined or not. And the skin certainly could have been more golden. So in the future, I think I will keep it in the turned off oven for that extra 5 degrees (at least) and see how that works.

When I carved it up, it didn't look underdone, though. The joints weren't pink, and I could rip the thigh bone away from the rest of the carcass easily, so I'm pretty sure it was okay just not as done as I like it (which is really quite well done, falling off the bone is good).

That sounds delish. I am really inconsistent with that sort of thing.

Ha, that sounds great, Kat. It's ridiculous that you have 307 students. It truly is. But I think that's a great solution to the bitching.

I have never had texture issues with any food, but then I have the least discriminating palate of anyone I know.

You need to take a pic of your engineering when it's done, sara!

Ooh, I finally got my Tivo back working again! I mean, it was working, I just didn't get locals. Because they made some sort of software upgrade that killed them. Which I find annoying. But anyway, I could never get software updates, because I don't have a landline. I have VOIP, but the connection is cellular, and it's just not enough to handle data over VOIP.

But the SO suggested that we'd have access to landlines galore while we were traveling, so I totally packed my Directivo and LCD monitor along with us (bonus, I could watch my tivo'd shows while I was on the road! negative, it wasn't recording whilst disconnected from the satellite, no Ponds, woe.)

But it worked! I'm pretty sure the hotel staff was looking askance at me both when I was carrying it in and when I was carrying it out, but I don't care, because I have locals again finally. And I didn't spend $50 on a useless service call, which was the first CSR's suggestion. And I didn't spend $450 on a new tivo, which I thought was a much better solution, albeit not an economically smart one.

Is it the golden rule that teachers are only a grade smarter than their students?

Where does that even come from? I've never heard jibes about teachers being typically stupid. New one to me.

However, if someone gave me 307 of anything to be responsible of, I might give serious thought to acting dumb to make them take some away. Good lord, Kat. That's...I don't know how you manage that. How you even look at managing that.

-t, I don't think you're using the same recipe I did. Mine doesn't say it keeps cooking 5 degrees after you take it out of the oven, more that it cooks 20 degrees hotter in the oven after you turn it off.

My probe is set to alarm when it hits the designated temperature, so I know it never reached the proper temp. And at the time when CI said it should have been done, it was clearly seeping pink. So, no.

I have a clock alarm set I can't work out how to turn off. Not the end of the world, not least of all because it's 9PM, but--annoying. It's got to be simple, but I'm not hitting the right button. Damn fancy computer shit.

I need to tidy more before the cleaner, or bargain on waking up early tomorrow...

Hate decisions. Will go back to working on provocateuse.

However, if someone gave me 307 of anything to be responsible of, I might give serious thought to acting dumb to make them take some away. Good lord, Kat. That's...I don't know how you manage that. How you even look at manage that.

This. It's impossible. Impossible to do well, certainly, if at all. I just don't see how they could ever expect you to do anything truly productive with even HALF that many. It makes me so angry on your behalf, not to mention on behalf of the students. It's so unfair.

more that it cooks 20 degrees hotter in the oven after you turn it off.

No, this recipe had that. That part worked fine for me. So I couldn't reproduce the problem. Sadface. I can't imagine that my oven is better insulated than anyone's, though, because the back of it is in a closet and I can see that it's just bare metal, so I can't even come up with a hypothesis.

No, this recipe had that

Okay, then I'm confused by

I am not at all sure about this whole internal temperature of the chicken rising 5 degrees after it comes out of the oven

because that's not in the recipe I tried.

OK, when I look at the recipe, it does not actually say that, but it you are supposed to take the chicken out of the oven at 160 and all my charts say 165 is what's safe, and some of them say that meat keeps cooking out of the oven so take it out before that, so I guess I am merging all that together. Sorry, I was working from memory.

need creme brule now

that is all

Note to self: "business casual" for a function where senators and admirals are in attendance does not, in fact, include trouser jeans.

t facepalm