Random Rants LXXXVI: OH, FUDDLE-DUDDLE!

[Snerk]

There's no topping roasted potatoes anyway.

 

[Synobun]

Why yes potatoes needs some salt. But I don't think I've ever made mashed potatoes myself.

I love mashed potatoes, but I find they take more effort than they're worth. At least when making them for myself. Instant packets are... best avoided.

 

[Snerk]

Instant packets are... best avoided.

That's true I tried one of them once. Oh lord.

 

[Timsup2nothin]

Teach me the way of the mash!

Chop potatoes into chunks and boil until just when they break if stuck with a fork. At first you have to really stab them, then they are tender enough to stick but you have to push them back off, They are ready when you don't get to push them because they break around the fork and fall off. Drain them.

Pile butter on top of them, which of course will be inclined to start melting. Start mashing them up with a potato masher. You'll need a butterknife to keep scraping them off the back of the masher. Start sprinkling in onion powder, garlic powder, ground sage, and ground basil. Amounts you have to figure out because your instructor never measures anything and just wings it. Keep mixing and mashing until everything is consistent, then put on low heat and add milk, continuing to mix/mash fast so nothing gets burnt from sitting too long on the bottom. Keep adding milk until you get to the right consistency, and keep mashing and mixing until everything is hot.

The trick is to use about one more potato than you are actually going to need. That one gets eaten as you go along, so you can track the seasonings and correct on the fly.

 

[Takhisis]

(source)

Yeah, but I can't take him to the store. The fuzz'd pick me up.

I love mashed potatoes, but I find they take more effort than they're worth. At least when making them for myself. Instant packets are... best avoided.

That's true I tried one of them once. Oh lord.

You're supposed to cook them.

 

[Ajidica]

I love mashed potatoes, but I find they take more effort than they're worth. At least when making them for myself. Instant packets are... best avoided.

I've had no problems with instant mashed potatoes. I've tried to make 'real' mashed potatoes multiple times and they always end up a gluey dense lump. As long as I avoid the flavored instant mashed potatoes, the store-brand plain mashed potatoes for 89 cents/packet really can't be beat.

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

I had instant mashed potatoes once. I'm pretty sure it was just melted wax.

 

[Synobun]

Really? I always found the instant packets to have the consistency of oatmeal.

 

[Ajidica]

Sounds like you are using too much water. I use just under the 2 cups of water called for.
(Also, I vastly prefer thick oatmeal to runny oatmeal. YMMV.)

 

[Synobun]

Seattle's library system has a terrible online authentication process. My card just got locked because the authentication servers are down, and all requests of any kind are denied automatically when that happens.

 

[Birdjaguar]

IIRC, the NY Public Library opened their system to any one in the US to use it.

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

For anybody who doesn't already know this, the Open Library lets you access a huge collection of scanned books with a free account.

 

[Synobun]

For anybody who doesn't already know this, the Open Library lets you access a huge collection of scanned books with a free account.

Didn't have any of the titles I needed. Open Library? More like Awful Library.

 

[Ajidica]

Seattle's library system has a terrible online authentication process. My card just got locked because the authentication servers are down, and all requests of any kind are denied automatically when that happens.

What's this? A foreigner trying to leech off our American public libraries?
BUILD THAT WALL

Didn't have any of the titles I needed. Open Library? More like Awful Library.

I once again feel the need to emphasize the best John Carter novels* are all digitized online as ebook friendly PDFs:
https://books.google.com/books?id=p...ce=kp_read_button&ppis=_c#v=onepage&q&f=false

*A Princess of Mars, The Gods of Mars (my favorite), and The Warlord of Mars.

 

[Synobun]

What's this? A foreigner trying to leech off our American public libraries?
BUILD THAT WALL

It's better than Vancouver's.

(And actually works, unlike Vancouver's.)

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

It's better than Vancouver's.

(And actually works, unlike Vancouver's.)

But you just said it wasn't working

 

[Synobun]

But you just said it wasn't working

Yeah, but that's only because those stuck indoors discovered the library.

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

Yeah, but that's only because those stuck indoors discovered the library.

Including you?

 

[Valka D'Ur]

Rant: What the hell happened to the exchange rate between CDN/USD? Yikes.

Welcome to the 1980s, when I had to pay a small fortune for Star Trek fanzines from Minnesota. Some of the content from those is freely available online now, but I'm not upset since some of the stories were heavily rewritten and the website doesn't contain any of the original poetry or artwork (someone from my local SCA branch wrote a few poems for this particular publication; she was sent some artwork and asked to write poems that would complement them). And there's enough content that to the best of my knowledge has never been uploaded to the internet.

My question is: Is that Chastity Bono as the kid in the video?

Yes, I believe so, as she did sometimes appear with her parents on the Sonny and Cher program. Chastity isn't Chastity anymore, though.

Rant: I tried to make mashed potatoes. I think I used too much milk because it's kind of....slop.

Feed it to your mother.

Mashed potatoes is ok but pretty much anything else you do with a potato is better.

It depends on how they're made. Not too lumpy, not too runny, add gravy, and eat.

When I tried to make a baked potato, it exploded.

But if you poke holes in the potato next time, it shouldn't explode.

Sounds like you are using too much water. I use just under the 2 cups of water called for.
(Also, I vastly prefer thick oatmeal to runny oatmeal. YMMV.)

Since some people cleaned the grocery store out of some things I needed last time I shopped, I returned the favor. The last two boxes of Cream of Wheat are MINE.

Didn't have any of the titles I needed. Open Library? More like Awful Library.

There are other sites, too. Project Gutenberg, for instance. It's not all old stuff anymore. The fanfic sites have stories about shows, movies, books, games, comics, and crossovers you'd never have imagined.

If anyone would like recommendations for Star Trek or other fanfic online, drop me a PM or post in the All Things Star Trek thread in A&E. Fanfiction.net and AO3 aren't all that's out there.

 

[tjs282]

My question is: Is that Chastity Bono as the kid in the video?

Hadn't thought about it beyond a vague uncertainty about why a kid was singing backup...but yeah that would make a whole lot of sense.

No, it's Christina Ricci, when she was still very small (pre Addams Family, even). Ricci played the younger of Cher's character's daughters in the movie Mermaids, which the colour clips in the video were taken from.

(The elder daughter was played by Winona Ryder — the other backing singer in the video.)