Mal: He calls back, you keep them occupied. Wash: What do I do, shadow puppets?

'The Message'


Natter 76: Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Foaminess  

Off-topic discussion. Wanna talk about corsets, duct tape, butt kicking, or physics? This is the place. Detailed discussion of any current-season TV must be whitefonted.


Topic!Cindy - Apr 26, 2020 10:13:13 am PDT #20359 of 30019
What is even happening?

Congrats on the new great-niece, Teppy and Tim. We have eight with one on the way, so you're edging us out. Our oldest is 14, but he's an outlier.

Congrats to your nephew too, -t.

but someone finally got me to start watching Bon Appetit videos last night, so I'm doing that instead.

Jesse, are these on YouTube or somewhere else?

askye, I keep thinking of you and hope it gets easier and that you stay safe.


Sheryl - Apr 26, 2020 10:19:12 am PDT #20360 of 30019
Fandom means never having to say "But where would I wear that?"

Timelies all!

It's been raining a fair amount here lately. That doesn't help anybody's mood here. Unfortunately, Mr. S hasn't wanted to go outside even when it isn't raining.


esse - Apr 26, 2020 11:26:06 am PDT #20361 of 30019
S to the A -- using they/them pronouns!

Congrats on the addition to the family, Steph!

Cindy -- Bon Appetit Test Kitchen is all on YouTube! They are prolific and thoroughly excellent:

[link]

Gourmet Makes is a great place to start:

[link]

Also Making Perfect:

[link]


Jesse - Apr 26, 2020 11:28:11 am PDT #20362 of 30019
Sometimes I trip on how happy we could be.

Yes, YouTube. I have now watched SEVERAL hours of Claire Saffitz making gourmet versions of junk food.


Topic!Cindy - Apr 26, 2020 12:46:09 pm PDT #20363 of 30019
What is even happening?

Thanks esse and Jesse (whose names now rhyme in my head, even though I don't think they rhyme when pronounced correctly).

You know what I'm going to love about this YouTube rabbit hole? NO COVID, just yummy food.


esse - Apr 26, 2020 1:05:27 pm PDT #20364 of 30019
S to the A -- using they/them pronouns!

You are going to fall crazy in love with Claire and probably Brad! It has happened to us all.


esse - Apr 26, 2020 1:18:28 pm PDT #20365 of 30019
S to the A -- using they/them pronouns!

It's not as amusing, but as far as cooking shows go I genuinely do enjoy America's Test Kitchen. You can watch a pretty deep catalogue of episodes for free on their website:

[link]

Honestly, every recipe I've tried from ATK has been unfailing. And at 22 minutes each they're the perfect length for making and then eating dinner.


-t - Apr 26, 2020 1:49:04 pm PDT #20366 of 30019
I am a woman of various inclinations and only some of the time are they to burn everything down in frustration

I've always liked ATK.

My stimulus check has been scheduled for payment, hooray! I feel like I should explain why I am so anxious to get it, since I am still working and should theoreticaly not need it. Well. It's kind of a long story so feel free to skip if you are not interested - it is probably very not interesting to anyone who is not me but I have to tell someone and it's pretty embarrassing so this seems like the safest place to get it all out. Anyway, I think I mentioned approximately a year ago that when I went to file my taxes I discovered that I'd had basically nothing withheld from my paychecks for Federal taxes for 2018. I suppose I should have noticed that during the year, but I did not. Nor do I know why that happened, other than tax reform changed withholding rules and I did not adjust. So that meant I owed a fuckload of taxes. So I set up an installment plan figuring if I could get those taxes paid off by this year and adjust my withholding everything would pretty much balance out. So I was paying $400/month on the installment plan, and that is a big chunk of change, and my savings dwindled and I got to where I could not quite make my full mortgage payment in the month it was due, and I kept thinking I would be able to catch up with my next paycheck but when I got paid apparently coincided with when the payment due amount would go up, and this was also the busy season at work and I just kind of...let it slide for a couple of months. And then my mortgage was sold to a new lender. So I had to call them to make any payment at all, and I couldn't make the full amount owed and they offered to let me catch up by paying 1.5x my usual payment for 6 months and then I would be caught up. Which I agreed to, because what else was I gonna do? So I have been doing that and barely scraping by on my other bills until I could not quite scrape by this month. That $1200 will let me pay my April mortgage bill on 5/1 (like I optimistically scheduled it a couple of days ago) and I very much hope allow me to pay my May bill by 5/15 and then I might actually be caught up. Oh, and btw, my withholding for 2019 was set up right to take out what I have usually owed in taxed but my tax bill was about 50% higher this year, but I'm setting up this installment plan to be a much lower monthly amount for as long as they allow the plan to get, hopefully that will work out better.

Sorry to dump a big old financial confessional on y'all.


NoiseDesign - Apr 26, 2020 1:54:57 pm PDT #20367 of 30019
Our wings are not tired

We're receiving containers and haven't been told of any slow downs or stoppages at the port

It may be that they are holding for going the other direction. There is manufacturing that is shut down in the US right now so there may not be the necessary product to justify the return journey.


Amy - Apr 26, 2020 2:04:24 pm PDT #20368 of 30019
Because books.

Erin McDowell's Food 52 videos are my FoodTube happy place. :-) She bakes. ::nods::