64 thoughts on “November 28, 2017: And Into The Eyes Of The Jackal I Say KAAAAAAA-BOOM!”

    1. That game last night ... woof. They keep playing like this, I don't see much of a future for Chuck Fletcher. Liepold let him hire the local-kid in Richards, the up-and-coming coach in Yeo, then went along with his pick for experienced/regular-season reliability in Boudreau. None of the changes at head coach can do anything about CF's roster decisions.

      1. Aye. I always look at the teams we're playing and wonder why we haven't signed players X, Y, Z... We're in a unique position in MN, with some market advantages and willingness to spend, but rarely seem to target players entering their prime...

  2. #1 in the company Thursday and #4 on Friday. Heavy bonuses coming the way of my store, which is the next best thing to getting a holiday off, I suppose.

    1. Like, in the whole of all your company? Aside from your devilish charm, any particular reason for your location's prominence?

      1. Maybe the Wilf's came in to outfit their new Vikingsland facility in Eagan using Black Friday deals on TVs, computers, and appliances.

      2. Nah, it was mostly my devilish charm.

        We did get a huge boost this year. A handful of our stores in oversaturated markets were closed a month or two ago, and Inver Grove was one of them. We inherited their traffic, for the most part.

    2. Only if workers get to dictate the terms and size of the bonuses for working on a federal holiday. Otherwise it’s a little sugar to mask corporate’s anti-worker expectations & practices.

  4. Well, for the first time in years, I can now say that the money for a film or TV project I'm involved in has come through. Sony has given us $500,000 an episode for our eight-episode comedy, and the meeting between the showrunner, Sony and Netflix will happen this coming week (though "THE" meeting might be a misnomer; I'd be surprised if I hear anything immediately).

    Right now we're on track - if there's ever such a thing - for contracts to be signed January (including that of intended star Steve Zahn), which is when pre-production will start. Shooting is likely to be in April and May in Youngstown, Ohio, which is the fourth or fifth new city I've heard about but would appear to be a done deal.

    As always, I'll be sitting here waiting for it all to fall apart, even with the money already in our hands.

    4. Nice and a tentative congrats to you, good sir. Also, I'm glad to hear Netflix is involved. That'll make it easier to watch it.

  5. So my wife bought an insta-pot on Friday. Just what in the hell should I make with this thing?

    3. My wife loves ours. You can make lots of things that would take you a lot longer in a slow cooker.
      It lets her start cooking in mid-afternoon rather than morning (like a crock pot) or 45 minutes before I get home (like stovetop cooking).
      I have no experience with a traditional pressure cooker, so I don't understand the difference between them.
      The stews are nice.

      3. That’s exactly what I was going to link to.

        Past that, I like it for stocks and sauces because it can keep everything at the right temperature without me needing to check on the temp. For instance, Kenji has a good pressure cooker red sauce, too.

        I really didn’t like it when I tried it as a rice cooker. I’m not totally sold on it for replacing many of my slow cooker recipes—with the slow cooker, I spend 15 minutes in the morning and it’s ready when I get home. With the instant pot, I spend 15 minutes, then wait for it to get up to pressure, then it cooks for 20-40 minutes, then I have to wait for the pressure to come down. Since I don’t get home until 5:30, that means it won’t be ready until 6:30 or later and my kid’s in bed by 7:00.

        But for some braises, stocks, and sauces, I like it. It can be good for soup, too.

          1. One of two explanations:
            1. witchcraft
            2. he only said "in bed", never said anything about "asleep".

          2. She's 15 months, and the stimulus of daycare seems to totally wipe her out. The eye rubbing usually starts around 6:30. Also, I think maybe she gets it from her mom, for whom sleep is a religion. I am suspecting that bed time will get pushed back as she gets a bit older.

          3. Some kids are early to bed, and early to rise. My niece is similar (and wakes up well before 7 a.m. too). Ours seem to prefer to be up until 9 p.m. and sleep past 8 a.m. too.

        2. For instance, Kenji has a good pressure cooker red sauce, too.

          Kenji has a good everything food related. He'd be on my mount rushmore of cooking along with Alton Brown were such a monument to be created.

          The Instant Pot is programmable, so that might make it really useful for getting things ready in the morning, tossing it in there then asking it to start cooking at a specific time. That's something I can't do with my crock pot. Now that you mentions stocks I'd be pretty excited for doing that instead of attending to one for 3-4 hours.

          1. Alton's warnings about the danger zone have been the main reason I haven't gone and programmed it in the morning, otherwise that does seem tempting. A couple of stews I have made in the pressure cooker instead of the slow cooker have been more well-received by my wife--I think the shorter cooking time meant the ingredients kept a bit more of their individual identity while still getting cooked through and soft.

            I totally agree about your Mount Rushmore of cooking. These days, I am a big fan of Kenji, Alton, and Meathead. Michael Ruhlman seems like a good dude, too, maybe a bit less on the test/science biased but he seems to appreciate simplicity in the kitchen, which I like.

            1. Meathead is my main man. Kenji is good too, though I sometimes find that the ingredient list gets long and obscure, but ymmv.

              1. I sort of agree, but I think he usually does a pretty good job of explaining why each ingredient is included, so sometimes I will just skip the obscure stuff, because even if some more umami (or whatever) would help the dish, I'm sure it will taste good regardless. I am a bit shameless these days in stripping down recipes that I read online to try to get away with the fewest ingredients possible (and maybe even cutting a step or two if I don't feel the time is worth it) while still cooking something pretty tasty. It doesn't always work out, but I try to learn from my failures. 🙂

            2. I think with the Insta-pot, you could put frozen meat in there that wouldn't get to the "danger zone" until cooking starts hours later, especially as it's covered.

              1. Maybe. I haven't done any experiments. But putting the meat in liquid will tend to thaw it more quickly. That said, I don't really know how bad the danger is, and I'm quite possibly being overcautious.

              2. The food safety issues would be if the frozen meat ended up being in the danger zone (40-140 degrees F) for an extended period of time. I don't know anything about the insta-pot, but if you are slow cooking frozen meat, you are rolling the dice. It being "covered" doesn't really matter. Potentially the pathogens are already in your food and they multiply greatly when the food is in the danger zone for too long. We cook it to 140 degrees to kill any bacteria that may be in the food (or on the food). Best practice is to at least put the meat in the fridge for a day or 2 to thaw before slow cooking. That greatly reduces the risk of food borne illness. I turn a blind eye when my wife puts a few chicken breasts in the crock pot when she leaves for work, but it does worry me.

                1. but with larger pieces of meat, the pathogens are mostly on the surface, no? So heating the surrounding liquid will tend to cook the surface before the interior of a frozen piece is fully thawed. Hence, danger zone is pretty minor.

                  1. Yes, depending on the meat. Some are more risky than others. I just know that my health department officials are super leery of crock pot cooking. So much so that they have cracked down on local church pot lucks.

    1. Indeed. At the very least, maybe give tyus like ten more of Teague's minutes and keep everyone more fresh. Because, man, a couple injuries and suddenly the bench is hot garbage. (get well soon, bjelly!)

      1. Sadly we really don't have any friends we trust that much or are that reliable. And one is going on a well deserved vacation this weekend and I'd fell awful if I got them sick.

        My dad is always,willing to take off work. Just hate getting him sick with this at his age.

        Good news is we are feeling better today than expected

  11. I cannot fathom how ANYONE could have found offense in this statue....

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