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BS: Them Menz! Huff & Hrumph
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Subject: BS: Them Menz! Huff & Hrumph From: Janie Date: 24 Nov 04 - 12:23 PM I cut out the cartoon strip, Baby Blues, and took it home and taped it on the oven hood. In big bold Black Letters it said...."A really, really, really bad answer." Next frame....SHE is franticly mixing ingredients for holiday cooking and says to him "Don't you just hate all the stress that goes with the holdiday season?" He is standing watching her, one hand in his pocket, the other holding a canned drink to his lips. His reply? "What stress?" I am in the kitchen baking pumpkin pies, making cranberry relish, and assembling a scalloped potato cassarole in preparation for Thanksgiving, when his Dad will be here. I am simultaneously fixing supper and talking on the phone to a catalog company about an out of stock item I had ordered for his sister for Christmas. I occasionally dash to the table to add a note to my menu and the prep schedule for Thursday's feast. I am thinking that I have to get his family's gifts wrapped and sent off to California and France ASAP and when will I have the time to finish shopping for Santa, and my kid's birthday party which is the week before Christmas. I have to drive 15 miles to the co-op to pick up the turkey and the ham that I ordered. Got to clean out the fridge or none of this stuff will fit. Hubby strolls in from target shooting at the farm. Sees the cartoon on the ovenhood and reads it. Turns to me and says, dead serious, "yeh, that's really true. For some reason you women always do stress over the holidays. I guess it must be biological." I will give you my cell number just as soon as the arraignment is over. It was so gruesome, I don't think they will set bond for me. Happy Holidays, Janie |
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Subject: RE: BS: Them Menz! Huff & Hrumph From: Ebbie Date: 24 Nov 04 - 12:28 PM LOL |
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Subject: RE: BS: Them Menz! Huff & Hrumph From: Tinker Date: 24 Nov 04 - 12:34 PM But it's your birthday....... and there were serious extenuating circumstances. Where is his list for the day ???? For the holidays ??? Oh, you mean it takes so many reminders that you end up doing it anyway??? WHy does that story sound so familiar?? |
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Subject: RE: BS: Them Menz! Huff & Hrumph From: John MacKenzie Date: 24 Nov 04 - 12:38 PM I like that Hrumph, especially on ISIHAC! Giok;~) |
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Subject: RE: BS: Them Menz! Huff & Hrumph From: wysiwyg Date: 24 Nov 04 - 12:42 PM Sorry, but it's not the men, it's our own damned brain chemistry. Women are designed to multi-task. We have to work as hard to NOT do that as men do, to DO that. The good news is we are also designed to do two other important and life-giving things: 1. Delegate to objective-driven men, and 2. Throw old cheap china around in the kitchen, especially on our birthdays! :~) ~Susan |
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Subject: RE: BS: Them Menz! Huff & Hrumph From: GUEST,Charmion at work Date: 24 Nov 04 - 01:00 PM Charlotte Whitton, mayor of Ottawa (mid-1950s) and prominent Canadian feminist, once wrote, "A women has to work twice as hard as a man to be thought half as good at the same job. Fortunately, this is not difficult." On the other hand, you could try going on strike: a week before Christmas, ask your Significant Other what he's planning to make for the official feast, and when he's going to start the obligatory house-cleaning. It's worth doing just for the stunned glare. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Them Menz! Huff & Hrumph From: Morticia Date: 24 Nov 04 - 02:15 PM Janie.........I appreciate we don't have to find bail money,I will start the cake with the file in tonight. If you haven't actually killed him yet, I expect Pixie and I could fly over and help hide the body. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Them Menz! Huff & Hrumph From: Janie Date: 24 Nov 04 - 02:33 PM I was tempted to roast the Turkey with the turkey! OK Terry, I'll have the sheet torn into strips to climb out of the window once the bars are hacked thru. I will need a getaway vehicle and a plane ticket to some where very far away. What I want and expect from him is not help---after 18 years of doing all the things the therapists, 12 step groups and self-help gurus suggest, we both accept that he ain't gonna help and I ain't gonna leave. But a little empathy, appreciation, and a whole lot of staying out of my way so I can get stuff done would perhaps have saved the poor man. Poor Ol' Put Upon Janie |
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Subject: RE: BS: Them Menz! Huff & Hrumph From: John MacKenzie Date: 24 Nov 04 - 02:40 PM I took my little Janie to a party last night At one o-clock it ended in a heck of a fight Somebody hit my Janie she went out like a light Poor Janie! Originally Poor Jenny, but when this song sung by the Everley Brothers came out, I was dating a gorgeous redhead called Jane, so I changed the words as above, and that's the way I always remember them now. Happy Thanksgiving Janie Giok |
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Subject: RE: BS: Them Menz! Huff & Hrumph From: SINSULL Date: 24 Nov 04 - 02:47 PM Her eyes were black Her face was red Her hair was a fright She looked as though She'd been a cryin' Half of the night I told her I was sorry She said get out of sight Poor Janie Giok - you are a kindred spirit. Janie, You didn't stuff the turkey as far as it would go, did you? |
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Subject: RE: BS: Them Menz! Huff & Hrumph From: el_punkoid_nouveau Date: 24 Nov 04 - 02:50 PM Phreeeowwwwwww (as Zaphod might have put it!). It's not that long since I had an evening where I was cooking tea while trying to get son ready to go off on a Morris weekend while trying to make sure model railway worked and pack it into the car for an exhibition the following day while printing leaflets for HER to take to a conference the following day (where she got wined and dined, I might add...). She was at work (bless her!) doing her bit for the household economy. You have my sympathy - open the other can and join him! Share and enjoy epn |
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Subject: RE: BS: Them Menz! Huff & Hrumph From: Leadfingers Date: 24 Nov 04 - 02:54 PM Janie - Its NOT just the Menz !! I spent too many years doing the 'New Man' bit - Cup of tea in bed before I left for work , the laundry done before she got home , Did MOST of the washing up too - She liked do do Sunday Lunch though I did my share of meal preparing , none of which stopped her Disappearing like a shot when she found herself a younger fellow !! |
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Subject: RE: BS: Them Menz! Huff & Hrumph From: artbrooks Date: 24 Nov 04 - 03:16 PM I really don't understand the problem. After all, we have an equal division of labor...she cooks and I wash up. Is it my fault that the cooking takes 6 hours and the washing 30 minutes? Just slow, is all. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Them Menz! Huff & Hrumph From: Davetnova Date: 24 Nov 04 - 03:23 PM Hee Hee Hee I have a Thread for this. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Them Menz! Huff & Hrumph From: Davetnova Date: 24 Nov 04 - 03:25 PM And I love the old couple - Her - "Lets go upstairs and make Love" Him - "I can only do one or the other" |
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Subject: RE: BS: Them Menz! Huff & Hrumph From: open mike Date: 24 Nov 04 - 04:54 PM way arej you always doing thigs for HIS family? what gifts or favore do they get from him? what abuot your family? does he reciprocate? that sounds so familiar...actually i have no siblings, and my "wasband" had 3 brothers. I often vistied his parents, and brothers and took out children to meet with their grandparents, 'cousins, uncles, aunts, etc. 'he sometimes did not even come along... jsut think of what a disjointed world it would be if the distaff side was not here holding it all together!! |
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Subject: RE: BS: Them Menz! Huff & Hrumph From: freda underhill Date: 24 Nov 04 - 05:04 PM packabastards, the lot of them. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Them Menz! Huff & Hrumph From: Janie Date: 24 Nov 04 - 06:24 PM Now don't get me wrong, girls. I don't hate 'em. In fact, some of my favorite people are of the male persuasion. I just get a little...shall we say....exasperated...you know, like ol'Bobert gets with womenz in the checkout line...only, ya see, I had this knife in my hand, and.....well, I'll spare you the details. Janie, the Steel Magnolia |
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Subject: RE: BS: Them Menz! Huff & Hrumph From: freightdawg Date: 24 Nov 04 - 06:49 PM What's the problem.... Freightdawg |
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Subject: RE: BS: Them Menz! Huff & Hrumph From: Morticia Date: 24 Nov 04 - 07:15 PM try the 'I just saw red' defence, Janie..........gets 'em everytime.......oh, and Pixie said keep him out in the yard or keep the central heating down til we get there. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Them Menz! Huff & Hrumph From: GUEST,Chief Chaos Date: 24 Nov 04 - 08:31 PM Hey ladies chill! Your turkeys gonna burn if you don't get back in that kitchen and pay attention! Sorry, the chauvenist in me got out for a minute. My wife flips out about this time of year with cleaning and cooking. The funny thing is that it is she who wants the perfect Thanksgiving/Christmas. It's not like we, the rest of the family, are "Demanding" anything. I'd settle for a Turkey TV dinner and I'm willing to cook it myself. The house doesn't have to be clean (for me anyway) and she goes overboard when I can't even see any dirt. I help as much as I can but it's never good enough so why bother? I just stay the hell out of the way! |
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Subject: RE: BS: Them Menz! Huff & Hrumph From: open mike Date: 24 Nov 04 - 08:40 PM howse about he goes to drive to the coop for the meat.. then he can be bringing home the bacon....in a real way. sometimes i think we gals take on too much...presuming "WE" have to do this and that....look at the list of to do;s and see if some can be shared by him or other houshold members.. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Them Menz! Huff & Hrumph From: Bert Date: 24 Nov 04 - 08:54 PM We BOTH laughed at that cartoon Janie. What you have to realise is that you were doing all those things in the kitchen because YOU wanted to. Guys and Gals have different priorities. If you don't believe me, just serve the guy a cheese sandwich for thanksgiving and he'll be delighted (Don't forget to be naked when you serve it though). |
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Subject: RE: BS: Them Menz! Huff & Hrumph From: Janie Date: 24 Nov 04 - 11:52 PM Now Bert, don't you be introducin' no rational thought or objectivity into this little rant of mine! Don't you go suggesting that there are two sides to this issue! Don't you go messin' with a womanz stressed by the Holidays! We womenz is a force of nature, especially when it is holiday season and we are having hotflashes, and the pager is going off because somehow we end up "on-call" for the 4th Thanksgiving week in a row, and we are the breadwinner and our clinic where we have worked for many years and with which we are very happy and that we believe makes a very real difference in people's lives and which also is only 1 block from home and 2 blocks from our kids elementary school is going to end in 6 months as another "safety net" gets reformed out of existence by this "compassionately conservative" "moral majority" recently reelected to run this country. And if that weren't enough, the annual Christmas kitchen sink emergency of one sort or another just bumped itself up a month when the less than 4 month old, expensive, commercial grade hose that feeds the nozzle exploded Friday and the part is on order and MAY be in by Thanksgiving, not to mention that the pie crusts browned too quickly and I forgot to cover them. Watch out, Guys. I need someone to blame. I'm warning you, I'm holding a turkey baster....And I know how to use it! Love, Janie |
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Subject: RE: BS: Them Menz! Huff & Hrumph From: Peace Date: 25 Nov 04 - 12:10 AM But will you be gentle with it? |
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Subject: RE: BS: Them Menz! Huff & Hrumph From: Bert Date: 25 Nov 04 - 01:08 AM Hey Janie, I know you womenz is a force of nature. I was just suggesting a way for you to use that force to get what you want. Just say to 'im OI MUSH! do this. And he'll do it (but don't forget to be naked when you say it) Get that FORCE to work. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Them Menz! Huff & Hrumph From: Peace Date: 25 Nov 04 - 01:35 AM Scrubbin' the floor, huh? Say, while you're down there . . . . |
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Subject: RE: BS: Them Menz! Huff & Hrumph From: freda underhill Date: 25 Nov 04 - 07:40 AM How true is the following? 'A study conducted by UCLA's Department of Psychiatry has revealed that the kind of face a woman finds attractive on a man can differ depending on where she is in her menstrual cycle. For instance, if she is ovulating she is attracted to men with rugged and masculine features. However, if she is menstruating or menopausal, she is more prone to be attracted to a man with scissors lodged in his temple and a bat jammed up his ass while he is on fire. Further studies are expected.' |
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Subject: RE: BS: Them Menz! Huff & Hrumph From: Gypsy Date: 25 Nov 04 - 10:56 PM Misandry, it is all misandry! (thanks, brucie!) |
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Subject: RE: BS: Them Menz! Huff & Hrumph From: Janie Date: 25 Nov 04 - 10:57 PM Ahhhh. This womanz is back in her benevolent aspect again. Proper homage paid by all the right people (all my menz sitting around my table) not to mention a kudo or two. Enough leftovers to not have to really cook for a week. Dishes done, with actual help from the mister, whom I raised from the dead under the full moon when I realized how much food would be left over if he didn't come on in and eat his share. Or perhaps...I dunno...the aroma of the roasting carcasses of the turkey and ham may have seemed enough blood sacrifice...kinda mellowed me out, ya know? Happy Thanksgiving. Janie |
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Subject: RE: BS: Them Menz! Huff & Hrumph From: Stilly River Sage Date: 26 Nov 04 - 12:28 AM I was up early this morning, cooking and working around the house all day. After the meal the kids adjourned with my ex to the living room and watched Shrek 2. It took all of the movie for me to clean the kitchen, but it was easier and more mellow to do it myself. They went and laughed and hung out and I enjoyed watching each pan and platter and plate cleaned, drained, dried, and put away. By the time they were to the goofy credits of the movie I was dishing up pie for dessert. Dishpan hands yes, but sometimes doing the dishes is a mellowing activity. Now I'm headed to bed. Like Janie, I won't have to cook for a week. That's a restful thought right there! SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Them Menz! Huff & Hrumph From: GUEST Date: 26 Nov 04 - 12:28 AM Speaking only for myself and not suggesting anyone else follow this approach, I would only do as much as didn't make me feel put-upon. Frozen pies, canned cranberry sauce, overdone turkey, frozen green beans, brown and serve rolls. Everyone would be just as happy and I would be not stressed out. If I felt like doing more I would. If I didn't, I wouldn't. I would use a cheap tablecloth that didn't show stains, and dishes and silverware that would go into the dishwasher. If we want to simplify, we can. Heck, I'll throw in a Christmas menu: spiral ham, frozen corn, mashed potatoes (instant is truly best), some green vegetable, and peppermint ice cream. it worked for my family of origin for decades....No more trouble than any meal ever is... mg |
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Subject: RE: BS: Them Menz! Huff & Hrumph From: GUEST,SueB Date: 26 Nov 04 - 02:23 AM Janie, you're a saint. The leap from homicidal to forgiving, truly impressive! What size halo? (Expect delayed delivery, men's halos overstocked, women's sizes backordered several decades.) |
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Subject: RE: BS: Them Menz! Huff & Hrumph From: Ellenpoly Date: 26 Nov 04 - 02:53 AM Great thread, Janie! The best part was the happy (and well deserved) ending) Enjoy your leftovers! ..xx..e |
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Subject: RE: BS: Them Menz! Huff & Hrumph From: CarolC Date: 26 Nov 04 - 12:36 PM I have nothing but good things to say about my Man'z behavior yesterday with regard to Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving tends to be a bad day for me. Holidays, generally (because most of my major life traumas have occurred around the holiday season), but Thanksgiving in particular because three years ago on Thanksgiving, after most of the family had gone home, I was alone with my mother, holding her while she was having the heart attack that killed her. JtS took good care of me yesterday. He cooked a wonderful Jigg's Dinner (his specialty) for us, and he did most of the cleaning up as well. And he provided me with the kindness and the nurturing I needed to have a Thanksgiving that was more healing than hurful, and I thank him for that. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Them Menz! Huff & Hrumph From: GUEST,Chief Chaos Date: 26 Nov 04 - 03:46 PM So do we let this thread expire or keep it around until Dec 24? |
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Subject: RE: BS: Them Menz! Huff & Hrumph From: SINSULL Date: 26 Nov 04 - 04:47 PM Being a single lady I have little to contribute. But I did have a thought. Those of you who are fed up with your MENZFOLK can ship them up to me for a few weeks. I have more projects and broken things in need of fixing than four or five of them can handle. And when I am done with them I guarantee they will return to you eager to please. I will see that they are fed and get at least 5 hours sleep per night. Major illnesses and infections that may interfere with their workload will be tended to. The shed is not heated but will accomodate up to five if they take turns sleeping. So give it some thought ladies. We can help each other out. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Them Menz! Huff & Hrumph From: GUEST,Bobert Date: 26 Nov 04 - 08:13 PM HEY, GUYS... BEWARE... TRAP AHEAD!!!! Do not respond to this thread... This is a trap!!! The womens is still mad about the check out line thread and this is how they have conspired to get us back... You step into this thread an' yer dead meat... Just smile, walk on by, and live to fight another day.... And jus' keep in mind while yer ignoring their little trap that if things were so good fir us there's no resaon that we'd be worked to death 10 years earlier than the womenz.... So..... RUN!!!! Bobert |
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Subject: RE: BS: Them Menz! Huff & Hrumph From: SINSULL Date: 26 Nov 04 - 09:13 PM Bobert - we know where you live! You have offended the Mudcat Sisterhood and WILL pay the price. "All in good time, my pretties..." We may take the hat and the spider in trade for your safety and sanity. I will see what the girls think. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Them Menz! Huff & Hrumph From: GUEST,Bobert Date: 26 Nov 04 - 09:18 PM Sanity? You are offering sanity, Sins? Heck, take the hat, spider an' all an' pass that sanity rights over here, thankee.... B~ |
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Subject: RE: BS: Them Menz! Huff & Hrumph From: Gypsy Date: 26 Nov 04 - 10:38 PM here, Bobert, Bobert, Bobert............i have something NICE for you........ |
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Subject: RE: BS: Them Menz! Huff & Hrumph From: CarolC Date: 27 Nov 04 - 01:26 AM Bobert, the reason women live longer than men is because we take better care of our bodies. Especially when we're young, while you menz is abusing your bodies with cigareets, whoosky, and wild, wild women, before you finally decide to settle down because you know you'll die in less than a year if you don't. So what women actually do is add about thirty years to what your lifespan would be if you remained single. Yer livin' on borrowed time, my friend, and you owe it all to your lovely wife. I ain't sayin it's right, but that's how it is. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Them Menz! Huff & Hrumph From: dianavan Date: 28 Nov 04 - 12:24 AM I'm with Sinsull - As a single woman, I have a long list of little jobs to be done around here. If they're handy, you can send them to me. Its been so long since I catered to anyone, they will have to take care of themselves in addition to helping out around the house. I'm sure after a few days with me, they will return home and gladly do anything you ask for a little TLC. d |
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Subject: RE: BS: Them Menz! Huff & Hrumph From: Coyote Breath Date: 28 Nov 04 - 12:33 AM We all went to a local church thanksgiving dinner. All the fantastic home cooked food you could eat for $10. Girlfriend sez "Its for a good cause" And we got to play bingo and buy pull tabs and take chances on grab bags. Got some real nice dish towels and about a half dozen scented candles and none of OUR party had to cook or do dishes and when we got back to the newly wed's house (they been married since September of 2003; she's gonna deliver within the week) we sat around chatting and dozing off. I recommend it. CB |
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Subject: RE: BS: Them Menz! Huff & Hrumph From: freda underhill Date: 28 Nov 04 - 06:36 AM You can have mine SINSULL. But he wont do the washing up or anything useful. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Them Menz! Huff & Hrumph From: GUEST,Janie at parents in West Virginia Date: 28 Nov 04 - 08:06 AM Ditto Freda. On the otherhand, I get to tell him how to vote. Now Bobert--iff'n you are going to be misogynistic do it on your own thread, or I'll take the turkey baster to that fine hat of yours. On the otherhand, you are not only a gardener in your own right, sounds like you are also a good garden grunt for P-vine. (although that's taking your word for it.) So I can see how she might forgive a lot of other major flaws that just seem to be inherent in the male of the species. Queen Janie |
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Subject: RE: BS: Them Menz! Huff & Hrumph From: freda underhill Date: 28 Nov 04 - 08:08 AM ..and being 25, 6'4"and well built, he's a little harder to keep underfoot. But he's amiable, good natured and good company. (I trained him well..) |
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Subject: RE: BS: Them Menz! Huff & Hrumph From: Janie Date: 26 Nov 14 - 11:50 PM This thread was a lot of fun. Makes me nostalgic for the old Mudcat, but things change and life goes on, and newer folks are here now and happy with Mudcat as it is today. That is OK, just as it is ok for me to be nostalgic and to miss 'seeing' the many folks who posted here back then. Especially miss the playful humor. 10 years later. For myself, life is very different now in many respects. Divorced. Son grown. In-laws and my father gone. Mom not able to manage the drive here to be together, and me not willing to go away for the Holiday to WV and abandon my retail working young adult son. Used to be in the kitchen or the kitchen garden if I wasn't at work or asleep. I divorced several years ago. My son is now a young adult and moved out with his girlfriend 2 years ago. I have worked 2 jobs and 50-65 hours a week for the past several years and have rarely touched the stove since he moved out. I admire people who cook for themselves, but I am not one of them. I need more than my own audience to enjoy cooking. Stressing again for the past 4 days and busy planning, prepping, brining, baking. Crazy as a bat that everything is not going to turn out perfectly and fixing enough food to feed 14 when there will only be four - my son and a good friend and his adult daughter. Had a pretty simple menu planned. Checked with my son and he said, and meant, that was fine - but I saw the longing in his face for time consuming, complex holiday dishes associated with his childhood, and made the *mistake* of texting to say, "if you prefer" and he did, given a choice. I'm exhausted from staying up late to do prep work over the past 5 days. And, absolutely delighted to be so engaged. Now, in what dark recess of a cabinet did I stow the turkey baster....? |
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Subject: RE: BS: Them Menz! Huff & Hrumph From: Sandra in Sydney Date: 27 Nov 14 - 02:44 AM womnez are complex ... |
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Subject: RE: BS: Them Menz! Huff & Hrumph From: michaelr Date: 27 Nov 14 - 02:45 AM "My son is now a young adult and moved out with his girlfriend 2 years ago." "...and me not willing to go away for the Holiday to WV and abandon my retail working young adult son." Do you not see the problem here? He moved out two years ago! The abandonment issues must be your own. Time to live your own life. Why take on stress about the past? Instead of cooking for 14, you could have a nice, stress-free weekend at a B&B for the money spent. I'm sure your son would be OK. Defining oneself by the needs of others is the tragic trap that keeps women from allowing themselves to be themselves. It's genetic, but not entirely useful anymore. Janie, I don't know you at all, so please don't take my observations personally. And I hope you have a lovely holiday. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Them Menz! Huff & Hrumph From: Charmion Date: 27 Nov 14 - 10:27 AM For basting a turkey, I use a small ladle. The rubber bulb on my turkey baster never fit tightly enough to be really effective, and my granny always used a ladle and managed to not burn the house down for the better part of seventy years. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Them Menz! Huff & Hrumph From: GUEST,leeneia Date: 27 Nov 14 - 11:23 AM " I am thinking that I have to get his family's gifts wrapped and sent off to California and France ASAP" Miss Manners has taught me a magic word: can't. Tonight, you snuggle up to him and murmur, "Sweetie, with all that's going on, I just CAN'T wrap and send the packages for your family. Either you and the kid will have to do it, or we will just send them checks or gift cards." Let that be the end of it. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Them Menz! Huff & Hrumph From: Janie Date: 27 Nov 14 - 11:47 AM Don't take me too seriously, Michael. I'm having a blast! |
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Subject: RE: BS: Them Menz! Huff & Hrumph From: GUEST,Rahere Date: 27 Nov 14 - 03:13 PM The answer's easy: ask him to microwave an egg. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Them Menz! Huff & Hrumph From: GUEST,leeneia Date: 28 Nov 14 - 01:26 AM Thanksgiving is over. How did it go, Janie? My husband and I had a simple chicken dinner at a friend's place. I made the cranberry sauce. She doesn't drink milk, so she made tapioca pudding with something called "almond milk", no doubt from Whole Foods. It was like eating Jergens Lotion. Then we played recorders - it was a pleasant get-together. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Them Menz! Huff & Hrumph From: frogprince Date: 28 Nov 14 - 12:46 PM Janie originated this thread a few months after I arrived "here", but I somehow missed it then. I was well down the thread before I noticed that it's a prehistoric document. Haven't laughed so steadily for so long in many a moon. Happy leftovers to one and all. Dean |
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Subject: RE: BS: Them Menz! Huff & Hrumph From: GUEST Date: 28 Nov 14 - 02:22 PM The odd thing about it all is that the origins of Thanksgiving are uncertain in the extreme. It sounds rather more like something which has become conventionalised by some form of marketing gone mad. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Them Menz! Huff & Hrumph From: Janie Date: 28 Nov 14 - 10:01 PM Thanksgiving is essentially a harvest festival. Folks around the world, and particularly in temperate and cold climates have celebrations, nearly always involving food and feasting associated with the time of year when the last crops and stores are put up to feed folks through the cold and barren months of winter and early spring. Holiday celebrations have whatever meaning we choose to make of them. I was blissfully happy last evening to have my son and two good friends gathered around my table. leenia, went very well. I messed up on the pumpkin pie rather badly, but Rodi brought her spectacularly scrumptious pecan pie, so the dessert course was still a resounding success! The conversation was lively, sometimes brilliant. That is largely due to Mudcat, and later the Getaway, where I first connected with these friends on-line and who have since moved to this area. Now, on to the Christmas menu:>) |
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Subject: RE: BS: Them Menz! Huff & Hrumph From: GUEST,leeneia Date: 29 Nov 14 - 10:46 AM That sounds great, Janie. About pumpkin pie - I like the recipe in the Joy of Cooking, where you bake the pie shell first, cook the filling in a double boiler, and put the filling in the shell just before serving. The pumpkin has a very fresh, fruity taste. However, the filling is too runny. If anybody would like to advise me on how to deal with that, I would appreciate it. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Them Menz! Huff & Hrumph From: GUEST,Rahere Date: 29 Nov 14 - 05:12 PM Cornflower will thicken and reduce the sweetness. It's the basis of English custard which is popular with many desserts for exactly this reason. Make a thin paste in cold water and mix into the fruit shortly before the end of cooking, allowing it to cook. I've also seen sultanas added to soak up liquid, ten minutes before the end of cooking, and I suspect if it's really sloppy you might even get away with adding white breadcrumbs. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Them Menz! Huff & Hrumph From: Janie Date: 29 Nov 14 - 09:18 PM I use a recipe from an old addition of the New York Times Natural Foods Cookbook that uses honey rather than sugar. Some years it is fabulous and some years not, but this year was not only not fabulous, it simply was bad. Part of the problem when it ain't fabulous is the custard is not set as well as it should be. You can only keep a pie in the oven so long before the crust burns, even when covered, or the custard starts to brown and bubble. Also not good.I baked this pie 15 minutes longer than the recipe calls for and knew when I had to take it out it was still not set as it should be. On reflection, I think I have figured out the problem, though not necessarily the solution. When I have used canned pumpkin puree the results have always been good to great. I think canned puree has a lower moisture content than fresh pumpkin. This year, I used very small and very fresh sugar pumpkins. I baked and pureed them the night before to save time. Had never done that in advance before. I noticed there was a lot of liquid floating around the puree when I took it out of the fridge the next morning to make the pie. Should have poured it off instead of stirring it back into the puree. I theorize that less fresh pie pumpkins, and also larger pie pumpkins have a lower moisture content than smaller and fresher pumpkins. In the future, when using that recipe and fresh pumpkins, will place the puree in a colander for awhile to drain off excess moisture. Also forgot this year that I usually double the spices in the recipe. The texture of the custard is much better at day 2 and 3. Probably because the crust has soaked up some of the moisture. Which, of course, means the bottom of the crust is now soggy. I've seen recipes that call for baking the crust first but have never tried it. leenia, what addition of Joy of Cooking do you have? |
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Subject: RE: BS: Them Menz! Huff & Hrumph From: GUEST,Rahere Date: 30 Nov 14 - 05:21 AM Ah, but English custard has very little to do with honourable culinary custards, being mostly a chemical concoction. I mix a powder which is predominantly cornflower, colour and mild flavouring to mask the slightly sour taste of the cornflour with a little cold milk to form a paste, add heated milk and bring it to the boil, until the cornflower swells and thickens into a very viscous mix. Almost pure carbohydrate, it's a schoolboy favourite, and as menz are still schoolboys at heart, where would English Memsahibs be without it? There are even two bitterly inimical camps on whether a skin should be allowed to form on top when it cools or not. Other variants are brandy sauce, which uses simple cornflower instead but adds brandy to the mix (as essential to Christmas lunch as any of the trimmings at Thanksgiving), and blancmange, which goes even further in adding chemical flavouring. The English insist on retaining it, lest the defeat of the French in terms of culinary supremacy become a Pyrrhic victory by claiming that the English have simply adopted French cooking. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Them Menz! Huff & Hrumph From: Janie Date: 30 Nov 14 - 08:25 AM Interesting, Rahere! Sounds like what we refer to as instant pudding on this side of the pond. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Them Menz! Huff & Hrumph From: GUEST,Dani Date: 30 Nov 14 - 12:04 PM Hey, I can't do it now, but remind me that I made the BEST EVER pumpkin pie. Crust and custard, outta the park and super-simple. With fresh pumpkin! Janie, those fresh guys are the BEST but you have to drain them really well. Roast, then set in a colander over a bowl in the fridge overnight. Next morning discard the liquid. Interesting byproduct, when I roasted my Long Island Cheese pumpkins, they gave off this amazing sweet pumpkin syrup. I spooned it back over them before scraping the meat out, then drained. More later! Dani |
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Subject: RE: BS: Them Menz! Huff & Hrumph From: olddude Date: 30 Nov 14 - 12:37 PM I played it differently, took off to Chicago with grand babies watched the parade and stayed and ate at the palmer house. No dishes |
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Subject: RE: BS: Them Menz! Huff & Hrumph From: Janie Date: 30 Nov 14 - 02:07 PM Dani, NOW you tell me I just reinvented the wheel:>) |
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Subject: RE: BS: Them Menz! Huff & Hrumph From: GUEST,Rahere Date: 30 Nov 14 - 03:23 PM The instant whips and their ilk over here tend to be aerated - custard most definitely isn't. Unless, that is, you're Heston Blumenthal, the UK's revengo on Charlton Heston. We should start up a game of personality dominoes sometime, with doubles like Ylang Ylang counting four as they allow you to branch. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Them Menz! Huff & Hrumph From: GUEST,leeneia Date: 30 Nov 14 - 07:31 PM My Joy of Cooking is from 1964. I use canned pumpkin. It is true that fresh pumpkins have more water in them. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Them Menz! Huff & Hrumph From: Janie Date: 01 Dec 14 - 11:47 PM leenia - I had a 1960's edition - not sure which one - that I loved. Mom got each of us 3 sisters one for Christmas sometime in the early 70's but not the most recent edition at that time. Good, encyclopedic tome. A niece-in-law inadvertently made off with it (or left it in her hotel room) on summer after borrowing it to read in her hotel room while visiting from California. In addition to the cookbook, I had stored a number of other recipes on cards and sheets of paper stuck between pages. Instead of sending it back (which is why I suspect she left it in the hotel) she sent me a new addition. Wasn't half as useful as the earlier edition. Plus all those tucked in recipes were lost. That should have taught me to get more organized - but organization has never been my strong suit:>) My son ordered me a used 1974 edition for Christmas a few years ago because I guessed that was the one I had previously, but I was wrong. I won't say I ever used a lot of the recipes in Joy, but the techniques and other information were priceless for people who cook from scratch and still have access to good scratch ingredients, and those older recipes for pies, pastries, breads and quick breads were definitely recipes I used often and with excellent results. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Them Menz! Huff & Hrumph From: gnu Date: 02 Dec 14 - 01:27 PM Hmmm... thread starts out about lazy men and ends up about intricate recipes that take a lot of time and cost a lot more than the $6 HUGE pies at Costco. Granted, even *I* can make a better pie crust than Costco but I only eat the edge crust on theirs. My pie crust is fattening simply because it is delicious so lazy + less calories = win. Sorry, Bobert, but I can't walk away. I did before and I had a hard time doing so again after your sage "trap" warning/advice but, on behalf of the less gentler sex, menz and womenz are often different in their approach to many things. Tis life. Tis the way things are. When my floors are dirty, I wear slippers... I am man, hear me roar In numbers too big to ignore And I know too much to go back an' pretend 'cause I've heard it all before And I've seen you down there on the floor Here, have a beer, you must be thirsty Sorry, Helen. You Reddy for a nice piece of pumpkin pie with Cool-Whip?... and a beer? |
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Subject: RE: BS: Them Menz! Huff & Hrumph From: Janie Date: 24 Nov 22 - 12:52 PM We had fun with this Thanksgiving thread. Refreshing for old times sake. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Them Menz! Huff & Hrumph From: leeneia Date: 25 Nov 22 - 01:00 PM In my family, guests brought side dishes at Thanksgiving and Christmas, so that the turkey-baker had less to do. I've moved 600 miles away, and here it is usual for a guest invited to a dinner party to offer to bring something. Sometimes I accept, sometimes I don't. Yesterday I attended Thanksgiving dinner at a friend's house, and husband and wife both prepared the dinner with help from a BFF they called The Gravy Queen. I had offered to bring something, but they said I didn't need to. I almost forgot - it has become a custom for my husband, the DH, to bring knives and snips to that gig and do the carving. There was one Thanksgiving at my house where I took it easy on myself and made turkey mole in the slow cooker. We don't all stress out. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Them Menz! Huff & Hrumph From: Bill D Date: 25 Nov 22 - 02:16 PM Ah, Janie... I missed this first time around, but it is fun reading how people process their frustrations with each other. There are good reasons for many generalizations about people.. both by gender and by other categories, but there are so many exceptions that it's dangerous to take them too seriously, as you seem to be quite aware. "The exception proves the rule... consequently, the more exceptions , the better the rule." (One of my favorite sayings to demonstrate flaws in logic.) |
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Subject: RE: BS: Them Menz! Huff & Hrumph From: MaJoC the Filk Date: 26 Nov 22 - 09:19 AM > The exception proves the rule Point of order: This saying is older than the modern meaning of "prove". These days it should read:
.... but y'all knew that anyway, hence Bill D's followup. We now return you to your requested Subject, before I start wittering on about what "100° Proof" means. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Them Menz! Huff & Hrumph From: Bill D Date: 28 Nov 22 - 12:11 PM 100° Proof means a satisfying kick in your drink.. :>) |
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Subject: RE: BS: Them Menz! Huff & Hrumph From: MaJoC the Filk Date: 28 Nov 22 - 12:49 PM > 100° Proof means a satisfying kick in your drink.. :>) Right, you asked for it: 100° Proof will support combustion on Customs-grade gunpowder. It's a rather sensitive test, I was given to understand: any more water, and the flame goes out; any more alcohol, and it goes *whoomph*. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Them Menz! Huff & Hrumph From: Bill D Date: 28 Nov 22 - 06:13 PM Dishes to make when you just want to set something on fire It just says "high alcohol spirit"... I don't mess with gunpowder. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Them Menz! Huff & Hrumph From: Jon Freeman Date: 29 Nov 22 - 04:05 AM A gunpowder method was used for a while in England but "proof" has meant different concentrations of alcohol depending on time in history and country. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alcohol_proof#History |
