I don’t want to fixate on the coming crisis, but honestly, it’s getting exasperating, always having to track down my eyeballs rolling around on the floor, because once again they’ve popped clean out of my head. We won’t go after RFK Jr. again, at least not immediately. It’s his confederates, his allies, that are driving me crazy lately.
I’m sure you’ve already heard about Bobby’s lawyer, Aaron Siri, asking the FDA to revoke its approval of…the polio vaccine. That story broke Friday. Today the WashPost looks at Dave Weldon, Trump’s nominee to head the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and his curious obsession with linking vaccines to autism:
Weldon’s past record of promoting the disproven link between vaccines and autism in the face of overwhelming scientific evidence attesting to the safety and efficacy of vaccines raises concerns among some public health experts about his ability to run the CDC. If confirmed, Weldon could undermine confidence in the lifesaving shots at a time when infectious-disease threats such as measles and whooping cough are on the rise, they say.
A Washington Post review of Weldon’s public comments, media appearances and congressional letters along with accounts of those who worked with him reveal a portrait of a politician and physician who emphasized the experiences of individuals while dismissing dozens of studies based on data from hundreds of thousands of patients that showed no link between vaccines and autism.
He has no interest in data, not when, what? Some mother wrote him a tear-stained letter about how her toddler was fine until the MMR shot, and he immediately started walking on his toes and never smiled again?
“He appeared to have a closed mind on the issue,” said Sharfstein, now a vice dean for public health practice at Johns Hopkins University and a former top official at the Food and Drug Administration. “He didn’t seem to understand that the core tool of population data analysis is one of the pivotal aspects of the work of CDC.”
We are going to a dark, dark place, aren’t we? And as Sherri points out, the people who will suffer the most won’t, in the main, deserve it. Babies too young to be vaccinated for pertussis, etc. How is this possible? How are we moving backward so swiftly?
As so often happens in our modern world, we can pin much of the blame on social media:
Here, an influencer named Kendra Needham, known to her 369,000 followers as the Holistic Mother, recommends a red-light-therapy gadget for pain and thyroid problems. There, Carly Shankman, who posts as CarlyLovesKale, evangelizes about the healing powers of hydrogen-rich water and a probiotic oral-care regimen. Courtney Swan, the host of a health-trends podcast called Realfoodology, links to a menstrual-cycle-tracking app and her own line of immunity boosters in minimalist-chic packaging.
This is a piece about the influencer moms, who grift openly, but no one seems to mind. Why is this country so goddamn stupid?
OK, enough. The weekend was nice enough for what it was, i.e. the last uncommitted one before the holiday. Saw friends, saw Kate, who got some good news — a big gig I probably shouldn’t reveal yet, but will in time. I’ve reached the point of making lists of stuff I have to do before D-Day, and they’re getting a bit long.
How about you?
Sherri said on December 15, 2024 at 9:29 pm
We assume that doctors are scientists, because they have to take some science classes to get into medical school. And some doctors are scientists. But not all doctors, not by a long shot. Those doctors don’t think like scientists, don’t care about evidence, and are prone to all sorts of nonsense.
And, like in any field, some are just outright frauds, which was the case with Andrew Wakefield, who perpetuated the vaccine-autism link on the world.
I’ve been wondering whether we ought to get out measles immunity tested. There’s some question about whether people vaccinated in the 60s still have immunity, because the the dead virus vaccine was not as effective as the live virus. I have a vague memory of some sort of vaccination happening in school and my doctor providing documentation that I didn’t need it, which might be that I got the live virus measles vaccine.
But measles is really, really contagious.
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Suzanne said on December 15, 2024 at 9:36 pm
I am old enough that I actually had the measles. I was a baby and apparently the vaccine wasn’t available yet. I also had mumps.
These anti-vaccine people are nuts. Even when their kids are dying, they won’t get it.
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Jerrie in MidMd said on December 15, 2024 at 9:51 pm
Sherri, I never had the measles but after contracting the chicken pox in law school, I had the MMR vaccine in 1978. I’ve been concerned about immunity so my doctor gave me a referral to have the MMR titer test at Labcorp. I’m relieved that my immunity to all 3 is still high, particularly to the mumps, which I had in first grade. Definitely get tested.
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alex said on December 15, 2024 at 10:01 pm
Speaking of stupid, I can’t believe ABC settled with Trump for $15 million in a bogus defamation suit. ABC and other legacy media should be the ones suing Trump for defamation. I guess the “enemies of the people” will be withholding their tepid criticism from now on.
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Deborah said on December 15, 2024 at 10:03 pm
Our neighbors in the condo unit next to ours were going to host a building holiday party for all of the residents, which is like 9 people when we’re in Santa Fe. The wife wasn’t feeling well so we volunteered to have it at our place which meant cleaning and cooking/baking yesterday and today. WE are all ready for it now, I hope somebody shows up.
Yesterday we had brunch at a restaurant with some friends of ours from Taos and they brought another couple with them. Everyone was an architect/designer so we had a lot in common and had a great time. We probably pissed off the restaurant people because we stayed so long and hogged a table.
On Tuesday we’re meeting with some Abiquiu friends at a Japanese restaurant at a place in Santa Fe connected with the spa called Ten Thousand Waves. We usually go to one or the others place for this holiday gathering but this year we decided to do something different because we’re all getting older and hosting is a bit of a chore with cleaning and cooking.
…I started this comment before our neighbors in our condo building arrived and had to pause while our party was happening for a few hours at our place. It turned out great, the food was good and company was even better. A good time was had by all.
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Mark P said on December 15, 2024 at 10:05 pm
Alex — What were they thinking to settle? Go to trial! Imagine how interesting discovery could have been.
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Julie Robinson said on December 15, 2024 at 10:12 pm
Back in the ancient times of 1979, the state of Indiana required blood tests for a marriage license. I think it was to check for syphillis and the like, but women also got a measles titre. Mine was inconclusive despite my mom reporting them when I was a year old, so I was re-immunized.
I also had mumps and I remember many days of misery. Who would want their children to experience that pain, plus the possibility of life long side effects?
Indiana also experienced a measles outbreak while our daughter was in grade school, and it was recommeded children get a second MMR, which we did. I think later the second one became standard. In fact, the county came around to the schools a month or two later to give the shot to anyone who hadn’t been able to get it yet.
Immunizations have been standard medical practice for generations. I still don’t get how anyone could question them. We are about to have epidemic after epidemic.
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Sherri said on December 15, 2024 at 10:25 pm
I had both the mumps and the chickenpox before my brother was born, so before I was 2 and a half. I don’t remember either. I remember my brother getting the chickenpox on Christmas Day when he was 7, and getting the mumps vaccine when he was about 12 because he hadn’t had the mumps, which probably would have been the MMR.
I’ve read that if you were born before 1957, you’re assumed to have been exposed to measles, and if you’re young enough to have been given the MMR, introduced in 1971, you’re good, it’s the in between that’s ambiguous.
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Deborah said on December 15, 2024 at 10:57 pm
Born in October of 1950. Had measles, chicken pox and mumps at some point, don’t know about whooping cough, don’t remember that. I had mumps very badly and remember the Dr after a home visit giving my parents a stern warning to make sure that I ate anything, I was sick as a dog and seriously malnourished apparently. They got me Hershey bars and whipped cream to try to get something in to me and I couldn’t get it down. I was weak as a kitten for weeks after that, I was maybe 9 or 10 then. I also had anemia as a kid, I was not nourished properly as a kid and feel that I am paying for that with muscular skeletal issues now as an oldster. Feed kids properly is my message, if it takes free lunches in school do it. It catches up with you later.
LB was born in January of 1975, she had chicken pox and whooping cough, I have no memory of the vax schedules but I’m sure we kept up with them.
I so remember getting the polio vax as a kid, standing in line getting a small cup of something sweet and swigging it. My parents were so relieved. I knew about polio, to this day I personally knew 3 people who had it as kids, they have all died by now.
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BigHank53 said on December 16, 2024 at 4:05 am
How appropriate that your 12/16/2014 post was also about vaccines. We’re really about to stupid ourselves to death, aren’t we? Never mind all the comparisons to Weimar Germany—I’m starting to wonder if we got tickets to the revival of the Fall of the Roman Empire.
Deborah, a whole lot of people like to forget that the school lunch program started getting pushed by the Defense Department. Captain America’s super-serum was invented for the comic book, but Steve Rogers being 4F sure wasn’t. There were a lot of WW2 rejects due to straight-up malnutrition, and the DoD didn’t like it at all.
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David C said on December 16, 2024 at 6:25 am
Right now I have insurance that pays for any and all vaccinations. It’s United, but the company is self insured and United only does the paperwork. So I imagine the company has told them to pay for it. But I get any jab the doctor recommends and I ask him at my annual if I’m due for anything. My doctor recommended an MMR booster so I’m up to date on that and had all the “harmless” childhood diseases including measles. Measles took 75% of the hearing in one ear. My aunt Kathryn lost 90% of the hearing in both ears. Harmless, my ass. So whatever the dipshits do, I should be OK until, I hope, this nightmare is over.
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SusanG said on December 16, 2024 at 8:46 am
The anti-vaccs drive me up the wall.
I was born in 1949, a time when polio terrified every parent. My mother canvassed the neighborhood for the March of Dimes. Children were given STRICT instructions not to gawk at classmates who were paralyzed by that dreaded disease. We had the Salk vaccine as soon as it came out. When the cube arrived, we went to Portage Jr High after church to get it. No influencer moms in that crowd.
What’s it going to take to shake this insanity? I figure the needless death of two to three thousand innocent babies. Think of it as collateral damage.
Oh, and here’s some Ft. Wayne nostalgia from that era. http://contentdm.acpl.lib.in.us/digital/collection/coll3/id/1452/
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Bitter Scribe said on December 16, 2024 at 9:36 am
Hey, look on the bright side. At least we’ll be able to make lots of jokes along the lines of “Siri, what does a total breakdown of government look like?”
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Jeff Borden said on December 16, 2024 at 9:44 am
The story of Jonas Salk is so remarkable. He dedicated his life of research to finding a polio vaccine, then refused to patent it so that anyone could manufacture the vaccine. He saved millions, perhaps tens of millions, from a horrific disease and took no profit from it. Can you imagine that happening today?
Yes, we are sailing into stormy seas next month and, even after surviving the first term of this malicious sack of weasel shit, we won’t be fully prepared for the madness to come. Seeing that pack of mendacious assholes –including Elmo Musk– enjoying the Army-Navy game Saturday in the company of the guy who choked another man to death on an NYC subway demonstrated the sheer arrogance of the incoming “administration.”
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alex said on December 16, 2024 at 9:59 am
I first became aware of polio when I was a kid with a newspaper route. One of my customers was woman who got around by crawling. She had a pair of short crutches that were made to hold up her upper body as she dragged her lifeless lower body behind her. Her legs were skinny and all shriveled up just like the Wicked Witch of the West after Dorothy threw water on her. I always left her paper inside the storm door and I would see her every two weeks when I came to collect money. I assume she never left the house.
Both my brother and I were born in the ’60s and we both had mumps and chickenpox, but I remember receiving the rubella measles vaccine. I think it was in the form of a sugar cube. I remember other mass vaccinations as well, and I still have a depression in the skin where I received the polio vaccine.
I get all of the recommended vaccinations and I reckon that I’m safe from infectious disease. I want to bury my head in the sand, though, over all this hysteria about gas stoves, lead pipes and microplastics.
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Suzanne said on December 16, 2024 at 10:19 am
I vividly remember lining up to get the sugar cube polio vaccine. I think I was maybe 4 or 5. I also had the smallpox vax and still have a light scar from that.
When I was going through cancer treatments and my liver went psycho, I had all kinds of liver related tests. Apparently I either had hepatitis A or had a vaccine for it because I showed immunity for it. Have no clue as I don’t remember ever being sick from it or having a vaccine.
Thankfully, my liver is now functioning properly and I know all the liver diseases that I don’t have!
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Icarus said on December 16, 2024 at 10:58 am
In my first semester of freshman year of high school (1983), I got chicken pox or measles—I don’t remember which. I missed a few weeks of school, and it set me back academically until Junior year. I thought I had every available vaccination, but it is possible my mom decided I didn’t need “so many vaccines at once”.
Alex thanks for that Beef burgundy recipe. Looks a tad bit complicated for my skill set.
also, for some reason, this post reminds me of how Jeb Bush didn’t let Terri Schiavo’s husband pull the plug. And the other Bush wouldn’t advance stem cell research even when “Just Say No” Nancy Reagan begged him because something a lot of people deal with finally affected her.
all because they wanted to appeal to their base.
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Dexter Friend said on December 16, 2024 at 11:52 am
Chicken pox parties. Moms took kids to a party at the house of a kid with the pox to infect them. It was a common thing in the 1950s.
I had the pox, measles, and mumps. With measles, I felt myself rising toward the ceiling, thinking I was dead. Mom came and held my hand to calm me down. I was sick as hell.
I was ecstatic to learn of the MMR vaccines, so happy my kid was not going to suffer as my generation did. My 2 stepdaughters already were vaxxed when I met their mother.
Well, America, collectively, we voted for all this bullshit coming. We wanted Kennedy, knowing his history. We wanted the rapist 34 count convicted felon, we voted for him. We wanted Kash Patel to jail journos and censure media. We wanted Liz Cheney to be first to be imprisoned.
We is an awful pronoun here. Personally, likely only one of us here wanted any of this corrupt putrid future. BOHICA.
Bend Over Here It Comes Again.
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Heather said on December 16, 2024 at 12:40 pm
Mumps can cause sterility in men, so something for all those right-wingers who want to re-populate the U.S. with more white people to think about.
Sherri @1, I saw a post on Bluesky yesterday that said something like “just wait until 20 years from now when doctors who did all their homework with AI start graduating from medical school.”
I got in an “argument” with someone on social media about vaccines and they said something like “I guess your science is different from my science.” Ohhhkay.
Spent all yesterday getting a bunch of little things done in advance of a week of deadlines plus I’m having people over on Saturday. I actually managed to change my toilet seat myself and must admit I am pretty proud of myself. It wasn’t all that hard, but squishing under there to unscrew the old one was tricky.
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LindaG said on December 16, 2024 at 1:05 pm
Born in 1941, I had vaccinations for whooping cough, diphtheria, and (maybe) tetanus as a child. Seems lots of children died of whooping cough before the vaccine. We seldom hear of these diseases now.
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Mark P said on December 16, 2024 at 1:16 pm
Heather, if someone said their science is different from my science, I would say, “If your science is different from my science, then your science isn’t science.”
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Colleen Condron said on December 16, 2024 at 1:59 pm
Born in 1967…old enough to have had the smallpox vaccine. I was 12 when I got chicken pox….no vaccine yet.
When I got married in 2002, I had to have the measles titer done.
I had a 5th grade teacher who had polio…it was very obvious that she had long lasting effects from it.
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Jeff Borden said on December 16, 2024 at 2:41 pm
Another school mass shooting with multiple casualties at a Christian school in Madison, Wisconsin. Killer was a juvenile and student there. He’s dead. But let’s all freak out about trans people!
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ROGirl said on December 16, 2024 at 2:47 pm
Abundant Life Christian School. Because…guns, Christians, kids. And a Merry Christmas to all.
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Dave said on December 16, 2024 at 3:06 pm
I’m sure I’ve said it here before but my father-in-law was a polio victim, in the polio epidemic of 1954, I believe. My wife has only the vaguest memory of him before he contacted polio. It left him crippled and he learned to walk with two canes. He worked at what was then North American Aviation as a planner and they were very good to him when he was sick, from what I know, but he was passed over for promotions and he thought it was due to his physical condition. He passed away at only 55, much of it due to the results of polio. We both wish so much that he could have lived to meet his grandchildren.
Yes, we both get infuriated by the anti-vaccers.
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Deborah said on December 16, 2024 at 4:04 pm
When I finally got the first covid vax I cried I was so relieved, it was embarrassing but the woman who gave me the shot was great, she consoled me and told me that a lot of people did that. As I said before I remember my folks being so relieved when the polio vax came out.
As I said, I know now how malnourished I was as a kid, when I think back about what we ate and the astounding fact that both of my parents were raised on farms and had homegrown fresh veggies and after the last harvest they home canned and fresh meat from the farm animals all during their childhoods. But when they became adults processed foods were the rage, horrible canned vegetables and sad food products were on the grocery shelves and midcentury housewives were ecstatic that they didn’t have to work their fingers to the bone doing all of those chores related to feeding their family meals. All you needed was a can opener and the ability to read the instructions on the backs of packages of pure crap that were served up. It all tasted vile and we kids didn’t understand until we grew up and finally tasted butter instead of margerine, or fresh veggies in the produce departments, what the difference was. I mean have you ever tasted canned asparagus? Gag me. I always thought I hated asparagus until I tasted it fresh and sauteed in butter, or lightly steamed. Yum.
My mother did the best she could I guess with what she knew and what propaganda she was fed by advertising but I know now that I was not raised healthily when it came to food and I’m suffering from it now. I don’t want to sound like RFKjr but a lot of what Americans eat is poison.
Also my parents didn’t know what they didn’t know. I remember going to the doctor at some point for strep throat or something and my Dr yelled at my mother because I was so thin and had anemia. My mother was quite upset and we quit going to the doctor after that instead of her changing her ways and doing what needed to be done. I’m angry about that now. I really am.
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Jeff Borden said on December 16, 2024 at 4:19 pm
WTF? tRump and Elmo are advocating for the elimination of the FDIC? Thanks so much, you fucking MAGA morons. You voted for a fathead who hates the same people as you, but you’re getting a ketamine-addled gazillionaire who thinks the entire economy needs to crash and burn so it can be retooled. Nicely played.
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Sherri said on December 16, 2024 at 4:28 pm
Mitch McConnell had polio. Will he step up to stop confirmation of anti-vaxxer RFKJr? I doubt it. He’ll probably just get a promise that the polio vaccine won’t be withdrawn, ignoring the impact that the anti-vax movement has on the uptake of all vaccines, including pet vaccines!
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David C said on December 16, 2024 at 4:40 pm
The veggie that I thought I hated was brussels sprouts. Like most vegetables, my mom’s mission in life was to make sure they were well and truly dead before she served them to us. So they were boiled until they could take no more. There’s nothing worse than a wet, soggy, mushy, boiled, brussels sprout. It wasn’t until I had them roasted that I found out I liked them.
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Heather said on December 16, 2024 at 5:36 pm
David C, that was spinach for me. I’d only ever had it out of a can as a kid, so I thought it was just a soggy wet mop of a vegetable. Fresh spinach was a revelation.
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Julie Robinson said on December 16, 2024 at 5:38 pm
Spinach. I’d only ever had the glop they served for school lunch; it came out of those huge cans and was barely even green.
My mom hated cooking and we ate crap too. For some reason she only made boiled potatoes, never baked or mashed, but she would always leave the room and boil them dry. She served them up, scorch marks and all, nearly every night.
D’s mom was the opposite, who made everything from scratch. It was what you’d call plain cooking, but she especially excelled at dessert, and it was nothing to her to bake four pies in a day. So of course he was thrilled to be offered pop-tarts at the neighbors, grass being greener and all.
Edit: Heather and I think alike!
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diane said on December 16, 2024 at 6:04 pm
It’s beets for me. As a kid, I only had them pickled out of a can or jar. So I thought I hated beets and avoided them at all costs. Then, decades into adulthood, I somehow ended up with a salad that had roasted beets. God, were they good. Now a salad with roasted beets is one of my favorite things.
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Suzanne said on December 16, 2024 at 8:40 pm
Glad to know I am not alone in having been raised on veggies boiled to death with little to no seasoning. Canned peas in school lunches gave me nightmares, they were so awful. i don’t think we ever ate anything but canned vegetables, never frozen.
I don’t think I even knew you could make a cake from scratch until I was nearly an adult. My mother always used Hamburger Helper and I was rather shocked when I grew up and discovers I could make a better tasting casserole from scratch with only minimal extra effort. As a youngster, I thought Little Debbie snack cakes were the height of sophistication.
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alex said on December 16, 2024 at 10:29 pm
When my dad met my mom in college, all she ate was green salads and she had no idea how to cook. And she was a waif. When my mom talks about her childhood, I understand why. She was a child of the depression and her family relied upon her relatives in the country furnishing them with home-canned veggies and meat, and from what my mom tells me, there was nothing more disgusting than home-canned meat.
They spent their first married Christmas with my dad’s relatives and my mom had never seen my dad devour food like he did when he had their home cooking, so she learned how to do it and became a gourmand. I only wish she could have taught me how to cook for one or two — does anyone know how? — because way too much goes to waste and it’s more cost-effective to go to a good restaurant and even pay a generous tip.
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Deborah said on December 17, 2024 at 4:16 am
Julie, dry, charred boiled potatoes were a staple for us too. I didn’t know potatoes any other way, except once in a blue moon she’d get a box of potato flakes that made disgusting puddles of goo on our plates.
My mom liked to read and she stood at the stove engrossed with a book in hand paying no attention to what was happening on the stovetop.
Our serving bowls were Tupperware with melted sides from getting too close to the burners. Our helpings were tiny which was fine with me because everything tasted terrible.
Serving a family of four a box of spaghetti which was the equivalent of one bowl of pasta I eat now in one serving. The spaghetti box had a few noodles and a packet of powdered seasonings that my mother mixed with hot water and a small can of tomato paste. She boiled the noodles for at least a half hour. We had that for the whole meal, no salad or vegetables accompanying. And no meat in the sauce. We had that meal once a week at least.
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SusanG said on December 17, 2024 at 6:01 am
Alex
Try Joe Yonan’s book https://www.amazon.com/Serve-Yourself-Nightly-Adventures-Cooking/dp/158008513X/ref=sr_1_3?crid=15AMWJXIQGPLK&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.o9GclIr2bPsYlv0AE9qT2Vy3DCxfnaZU8zHqd5-4x01Po-QHkVPCkN8BwOtdRi02RL_rvEQCh-ZBnhI_Msk14XMis-ssKXBbRrz1u03I3Fc8mKWxjWKOrw6kRoABQiuGFCowWSjXB0eOb0KphHdpY3w-n_3gwPvqKjE8BZnNYMuqrm9x-FVe1Xs6dgBQmU3VSQMkHSbAhqpiLKujpieyoE8W7oaY0DU8StQMRoh-CS8.tEdBmo8i-2cuPV7n1LE_jQVozKLaCTLeeKbQqP8vkss&dib_tag=se&keywords=Joe+yonan&qid=1734433096&sprefix=joe+yonan%2Caps%2C139&sr=8-3
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Dave said on December 17, 2024 at 8:23 am
My mother was a wonderful cook and so was my father, for that matter. My mother also liked to bake and in my memory, we always had cakes or cookies or pies. She turned up her nose at what she called “box cake”. Nothing like that at our house.
Julie Robinson, you’ve reminded me of when I’d trade my homemade lunch dessert at school for something like a Hostess Twinkie. We never had anything like that at home and I once made the mistake of telling my mother I’d made a trade. She wasn’t proud of me that day.
Still, to this day, I’ve never tasted a beet that I liked nor a brussel sprout.
Another school shooting in a country where we JUST CAN’T DO ANYTHING ABOUT IT.
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Jeff Gill said on December 17, 2024 at 8:32 am
My sister & I were talking as we plan the now post-holidays move to memory care for our mother; it’s a relief we didn’t do it this past weekend as she’d originally planned, but now that moment still waits ahead of us. The nurse from the place has done a home visit, spent an hour, and marveled at how verbal & conversational she is while being, in her words, “off the charts” for dementia. In truth, this isn’t likely to continue, but for now it adds to how hard Mom is for my sister to handle, argumentative and delusional, not to mention constantly interested in leaving the house (I’ve installed devices on all the doors she can’t use, but it’s still something to watch).
Our mother had a nervous breakdown when I was about nine and she (the youngest of us four) was one, so I remember a different woman than she does, and some different issues. All of which is to say, I have clear memories of when Mom’s parents were still alive, and came to visit: that day before was a scramble of three things — cleaning the house to Grandma’s standards, getting the Special K for her and Wheaties for Grandpa which otherwise never graced our pantry, and hiding the Crisco, Bisquick, and other items that would arose Grandma’s Depression era ire, like Tang and Space Food Sticks, etc., often in my closet.
But they arrived, and at least in my recollection, not long after Grandpa carried in their bags, Grandma was in the kitchen going through the cabinets. Was it that obtrusive? That’s how I remember it. And her high clear voice calling out “Rose?” Mom goes to the kitchen, and Grandma is waving a box of cake mix, Duncan Hines. “Why on earth do you have this?” Mom knew to hide Bisquick and Crisco as violations against the natural order, but she’d neglected to stash the Duncan Hines cake mix. It came up again and again through the weekend.
Yes, our parents had a strange relationship with foodstuffs, probably in large part from being kids during the Depression, or at least being raised by people who steered an awkward path through it. Reactions to or from modern food science, to save work versus the old ways, or to renounce the old ways no matter what, even if to extremes.
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David C said on December 17, 2024 at 9:56 am
Cisco. We grew up on Crisco, corn oil, vegetable oil, and all the other “poisonous” seed oils. When I hear of some momflunencer saying everyone saved bacon grease and only cooked with that, it’s like, really? I was there. I didn’t know anyone who did. Nice thing about the past that you weren’t alive for is you can say it was exactly how you imagine it was.
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Mark P said on December 17, 2024 at 10:03 am
My mother was a good cook. She was not much for pies, but we always had cakes, cookies, brownies or the like. She made a spice cake with some kind of (maybe) caramel icing as a kind of quick-and-dirty dessert when she didn’t have time for something more elaborate. I have such good memories of it that I would like to make it myself. My late brother took all of our mother’s recipes, which was fine with me at the time, but now his widow won’t even respond when I ask for some of my mother’s recipes. I think I have mentioned that before.
One Thanksgiving my wife and I and my brother had dinner at my in-laws. My brother brought instant mashed potatoes. My mother-in-law was aghast, but they were actually perfectly fine. Which reminds me, when my brother-in-law and I were in college, we dropped out for a couple of quarters, and decided to drive from Georgia to California. On the way back we stopped a a diner, and my brother-in-law ordered mashed potatoes. As he was eating them, he said they reminded him of his mother’s — lumpy.
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alex said on December 17, 2024 at 10:38 am
Thanks Susan! I just ordered myself a copy on Amazon. From the description, it sounds like there is plenty of advice on how to shop and how to store things as well.
The NYT recipe for boeuf bourguignon introduced me to an interesting technique for caramelizing onions and browning mushrooms that I will have to try again for use in other dishes. You put them in a pan with some water and olive oil, simmer them covered for 15 minutes, then turn up the heat and toss them in the pan for another 7 or so minutes. I’ve never had them turn out so fragrant and delicious. It could be a meal by itself.
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Deborah said on December 17, 2024 at 1:52 pm
Not a great day. The car dealership where we bought the jeep and have been having it serviced all along, texted to say that the car won’t be ready until Jan 6th!!! This was after my husband has been calling for days to try to get a time from them. They had originally said 6 to 7 days and tomorrow is day 7. They say it’s because it will take time to get a part delivered. Husband is apoplectic. We currently have a rental car that we paid for and is to be returned to Hertz tomorrow when we thought we’d have our car back. Don’t car dealerships provide loaners when circumstances like this happen? I told my husband to demand something like that, but my guess is that’s probably not an option.
Then our new dryer was supposed to be delivered but according to Murphey’s law they detected damage while unboxing it on the delivery truck in our parking lot. I have to wait 24 to 48 hours just to find out when the replacement new dryer will be delivered, then it’s coming from their main warehouse in Arizona, where they say they have plenty in stock. To complicate things further of course, the holidays will delay this delivery. Meanwhile they took the old dryer away which is fine since it was unusable and we will have to continue to use the drying racks we have and do smaller loads more often to get everything on the racks. Sheets are impossible to dry so maybe a trip to the laundramat will be in order. When I was a kid we didn’t have a dryer, we hung all of our clothes outside on a clothesline. Sheets smelled fabulous in those days.
One last bit of bad news, our neighbor from Abiquiu that we were getting together with this evening with other Abiquiu neighbors, at a restaurant in Santa Fe up in the mountains, had to go to the ER today for possible heart issues. He’s 87 but has been in good shape. We don’t know yet if we’re still having the get together with the others or not.
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David C said on December 17, 2024 at 2:20 pm
I’ve found unless you’re under warranty so the dealer can charge it to the manufacturer, they’re pretty stingy with loaners. A forceful person may be able to argue their way into one. Since I’m not forceful, I’ve never tried.
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Brandon said on December 17, 2024 at 3:11 pm
When I hear of some momflunencer saying everyone saved bacon grease and only cooked with that, it’s like, really?
Beef tallow is having its moment, both as a cooking fat–and a skin care item.
https://betches.com/beef-tallow-beauty-tiktok-trend/
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Deborah said on December 17, 2024 at 3:16 pm
Yeah David C, I’ve figured that’s a dead alley to pursue. My husband asked them to let us know by the end of today what our options might be. Anyone want to bet they’ll get back to us? Probably not.
I really wish we could get by with not replacing this dryer but the condo bylaws don’t allow outside hanging clothes lines, admittedly for good reason.
In Chicago, we use a building wide laundry room, not many people do because if they own two combined contiguous units that they made into one they are allowed to have their own laundry appliances in their unit. It works out great for us because the laundry room is rarely occupied by any other residents and we mostly have the run of the place, as many washers, dryers, rolling basket carts and folding tables as we ever need. Plus it’s the laundry room with the best view of Lake Michigan over Lake Shore Drive. It’s nice though to have them in your own unit because it’s so convenient to wash and dry clothes whenever you want at your own pace and necessity.
In the interim of today’s events we did find out that our other neighbors from Abiquiu want to go ahead with our get together this evening so that’s good, it should be fun and we don’t have to come with something else for dinner tonight.
It’s still early enough in the afternoon (mountain time) to come up with answers about our Jeep.
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Dexter Friend said on December 17, 2024 at 3:19 pm
I cannot recall ever missing a meal as a kid. Mom learned to cook from her step-mother who was a great cook. I remember Swiss steak, mashed potatoes, fresh greens , pies made with lard crusts, fresh fruit. Always a fresh gallon of Golden Guernsey or Allen Dairy milk. County Line cheese. Great fried chicken.
Once in a while, a soda and a Hershey bar from the gas station across the street. We called the soda “pop”. As an adult, a pop became a quick shot of booze with maybe a short beer chaser. My Hoosier friends still call a soda a “pop”. My Florida friends call any soda a “Coke”. An orange Coke, a 7-up Coke, a strawberry Coke. My brother the retired salesman said a 6-pack of suds were “road Cokes”.
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Jeff Gill said on December 17, 2024 at 3:35 pm
Today is the day my father-in-law died last year. On Saturday, after attending a funeral for a family friend, I went to the cemetery where I’ve been struggling to get Buck’s marker placed. Turns out the granite base on which my mother-in-law’s plaque is mounted, since she passed in 2015, has cracked & there are deep vertical gouges all over her bronze marker (which I do not see on similar flush markers all around her & Buck, who is buried but unmarked). The cemetery agrees they should replace her bronze marker, but have a new upsell on Buck’s, plus they state since no one can figure out what’s causing the damage, the cost of the new granite base is on us though they will absorb the cost of installation.
[redacted some 10,000 words of phone calls to a second and third level of management over a two hour period where I made it clear I’m not moving until we resolve this]
So they came down to where I’m putting “only” another $2,000 into getting both of them properly marked . . . and learned they don’t expect it to be completed and installed until late August. Of 2025, at least! “Supply chain issues, sir . . .” Getting tired of how I think that’s being used, like “insurance” has been in the past as a cover-all.
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Brandon said on December 17, 2024 at 3:49 pm
Whatever happened to Coozledad?
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Peter said on December 17, 2024 at 3:59 pm
Brandon, I was thinking that myself – if he was still alive on November 5, I think the election would have put him over the top.
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Jakash said on December 17, 2024 at 4:02 pm
Well, Dexter, you do live in a “Pop” state. I was born in Ohio and have lived in several different states, but have never left the Pop Dominion. There are several different maps out there like this, but here’s one:
https://www.reddit.com/r/MapPorn/comments/vyt80m/generic_names_for_soft_drinks_by_county_source/?rdt=51957
Thumbs up to Swiss steak!
The question with regard to mashed potatoes — lumpy, smooth, overcooked, instant, whichever — is whether or not it’s acceptable to put ketchup on them. Particularly if gravy is not available. I vote Yea, myself! Judge me if you must.
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Julie Robinson said on December 17, 2024 at 7:27 pm
Deborah and Jeff G, you’ve given me two reasons to despise car dealers and the entire death industry. Mom wanted to inter my sister’s ashes in our hometown cemetery. Of course, they are happy to do that, as long as she pays the same price as a full burial. No columbariums, no alternatives. So the ashes are unburied and unscattered.
Mashed potatoes are an intimidating food to cook for many, though I’d argue it’s a learnable skill. But complaining about the food a guest has brought? That’s a big nope. I’ve even been served the ones from Bob Evans that you heat in the microwave, and they were fine, if salty. Just smile and add some butter, gravy, or ketchup. Lumps? Who cares; let’s practice kindness and enjoy each other’s company.
Deborah, your mom stayed in the kitchen while she was scorching her potatoes? Mine put them on and promptly left the room.
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Mark P said on December 17, 2024 at 11:34 pm
Trump has named Herschel Walker ambassador to the Bahamas. Walker is stupid even for a brain-battered football player. How insulted do you think the Bahamians feel?
Can this be happening?
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Jeff Gill said on December 18, 2024 at 9:15 am
The death industry is stupid, and generally does not have the excuse of TBIs to explain their obtuseness. Add in the growth of SCI’s Dignity Memorial brand helping justify predatory practices to the panic of the remaining family operations with the sudden shift to 4 of 5 deaths being cremated and the fiscal shock that’s come with that transition, and you have chaos around death & mourning that few if any clergy are ready to assist with constructively. It’s a cluster.
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Mark P said on December 21, 2024 at 2:30 am
My wife picked up a free magazine as we left a restaurant Friday night. It was a self-styled “Christian Magazine” called Good News. I leafed through it and found ads for various local businesses, including a gun shop advertising the “perfect Christmas gifts,” a pump-action, 12-gauge shotgun on sale for $199.99, and a “mil-sport NATO rifle”, which was a semiautomatic .223 or 5.56 caliber with a 30-round magazine, on sale for only $499.99. It would certainly be perfect for little Timmy to take to school for show-and-shoot one day soon. He can save the shotgun to take himself out after he has his fun.
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