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Happy Memorial Day

happy memorial day

Weasels can’t salute. Necks too long, arms too short. But the warriors among us, consider yourself saluted.

If you want me, I’ll be around back in the new lawnchair I bought at Wal*Mart on Saturday, reading an actual book. With words and everything.

Later there will be booze. And hamburgers.

Comments


Comment from Muslihoon
Time: May 26, 2008, 11:12 am

Oh, hamburgers. I love me cheeseburgers. And the weather’s nice enough to fire up the grill. But we’d have to smoke out the wasps first. Feh.

Have a ‘burger for me, Your Ladyness.


Comment from Muslihoon
Time: May 26, 2008, 11:21 am

And a most hearty salute to the memory of all of those who have fallen, and to those that currently serve, and to those who have served us. Heroes you all are to me! Hip hip hurrah!

I had a moving experience yesterday at church. We don’t usually sign hymns with much gusto. We just sing them, barely. But the rest hymn yesterday was “America the Beautiful”. We all stood and sang it with much gusto. It was such a wonderful sound to hear all those voices, with strength and conviction, rising in tribute. Sent shivers down my spine and I even teared up a few places.


Comment from S. Weasel
Time: May 26, 2008, 11:22 am

You can get an effect that is very much like grilling by using an iron skillet and heating it as hot as your stove will allow. Unless you’re using something exotic like mesquit chips on your grill, the actual flavor comes from that little bit of charring that happens. It’s good to have a lid for the skillet, because it’ll smoke like a bastard. Also, scary amounts of flame will come off the vaporized fat when you open the lid to see how it’s doing.

Don’t try this with teflon, though. Hot teflon is bad mojo.


Comment from TattooedIntellectual
Time: May 26, 2008, 12:05 pm

Teflon is crap! Cast irons are the only way to go! That’s my first opinionated pronouncement for the day 🙂


Comment from S. Weasel
Time: May 26, 2008, 12:10 pm

I love my cast iron. I even have a tall one with a lid that I’ve managed to bake in (it’s not a dutch oven, but that’s the concept). I’m not a super-fussy anal-retentive about taking care of them, either, and they still work like a champ.


Comment from nbpundit
Time: May 26, 2008, 12:25 pm

The stoaty looks good carrying Our Flag.
Thanks for remembering…


Comment from LemurKing
Time: May 26, 2008, 12:27 pm

Right on, TattooedIntellectual!! (hereinafter I will refer to you as TI) With the exception of when I’m frying tofu (biteth thy tongue EW1(SG)) I agree, teflon is ineffective for heavy-duty cooking. I have a dutch oven that came across the US in a wagon, and it is just as good today as it ever was. You just don’t need teflon if your pan or pot is well seasoned.

Weas and Uncle Badger, I have some German friends that ooh’ed and ahhh’ed over my cast-iron collection but then implied that cast-iron wasn’t considered practical over there because of weight and space. Is that an issue in the UK?

Amen, Muslihoon, amen, and well said. Veterans and burgers. I think a lot of vets would approve.


Comment from LemurKing
Time: May 26, 2008, 12:29 pm

Weas, a while back we talked very briefly about software packages for digital graphics/art. I think you said you were primarily a vector-graphics guru and not a P-Shopper. Is Patriot Stoaty a vector-graphic? Corel or what?


Comment from S. Weasel
Time: May 26, 2008, 1:48 pm

Other way around, LK. I primarily do Photoshop. I used to do a fair bit of vector graphics, but that was some years ago. I used Corel then. I was even a beta tester for them (an honor of which I was quite proud). I have tried to learn Illustrator, the de facto standard now, but I don’t need it often enough to figure it out properly.

Anyhoo, the graphic is all P’shop. And a rather hasty one at that, as I was simply too lazy to pull something better out of my nether regions.

I don’t know about weight and space, but ironware is very expensive over there. I took over one of my medium frying pans and instructed Uncle B in the fine art of Southern fried chicken and he was very taken with it. I’m thinking of buying a few more pieces before I go over.


Comment from TattooedIntellectual
Time: May 26, 2008, 2:02 pm

LK,
TI is fine, that’s what it gets shortened to most places (okay, the all of like 3 places I post regularly). All of our cast irons are in storage b/c my aunt has a glass top stove and the irons are a no go (they scratch it all to hell). I haven’t had a decent pancake in months.


Comment from S. Weasel
Time: May 26, 2008, 2:06 pm

It’s been a while since I mentioned this, so I’ll repeat it: if you are at all interested in digital art, I highly recommend participating in the Concept Art forums. It’s the most serious forum I’ve found for critiquing and sharing information on digital and traditional art.

People there are all skill levels, from totally suck to blow your mind — and the occasional delight, somebody whose sketchbook shows him going from totally suck to blow your mind over the course of a few years of damned hard work.

In the Sketchbook and Finally Finished sections, anything with a five-star rating is going to be excellent (and a lot without a star rating, too). Also, click any of the thumbnails at the top (these are artists working for the sponsoring company, Massive Black). You can also download tutorial videos from some of their artists (I think it’s $15 a pop now).

I had no idea the kind of fantastic paintings people were pulling out of Photoshop and Painter until I started hanging around there.


Comment from S. Weasel
Time: May 26, 2008, 2:15 pm

Oh. And I’ll confess, I’m such a shit-bag, one of my favorite things is looking at artwork by the ones who totally suck. It soothes my nerves. (Yay! I don’t suck like that!).

Many of them are kids, which isn’t fun. But you’d be surprised at the suckage coming from grownups…and even, occasionally, professional artists of some kind.


Comment from Gibby Haynes
Time: May 26, 2008, 2:29 pm

Happy Memorial day.
That weasel looks like it means business.


Comment from Uncle Badger
Time: May 26, 2008, 3:14 pm

Happy Memorial Day – umm, or whatever it is you lot say (we don’t have a memorial day, and I’m not sure ‘happy’ would be quite the right emotion for what I suspect is our closest equivalent).

Anyway, whatever is – enjoy it 🙂

Lemur King’s question about cast iron is interesting. I absolutely agree about the horror that is Teflon but no, like the Germans, we don’t use much cast iron here, though whether that’s just a weight/space issue, I’m not sure.

The French use it a lot, however, but it tends to be that Le Cresuset stuff, which costs a fortune and has an enamelled outer skin. That goes in and out of fashion in the UK, but tends to be adored by the AGA queens, because they think it’s rustic.

Her Ladyship tells the truth about bringing over a cast iron pan, which I regard as a prize possession and I’m hoping she brings a ton of the stuff over – though I suppose that would only amount to about three items.

I actually think there would be a good market for American cast iron cookware in the UK – though you’d need to educate people about its virtues.

In fact the only negative things I can say about it are its weight (I wouldn’t like to heft a really large cast iron saucepan) and the fact that you can’t bung it in the dishwasher.

Rule 1. Badgers don’t wash-up up by hand 🙂


Comment from LemurKing
Time: May 26, 2008, 3:22 pm

Or we could use Tat-Indy if you prefer.

Now that I recollect it was *because* cast iron was bulky and hard to move that it was exorbitantly expensive. That is more correct than what I put down earlier. Space was an issue by itself for them when moving around.

If I can suggest one piece of cast iron to keep an eye out for… it’s a round griddle 14″ in diameter and it is good for everything under the sun. I’m going to link it without periods hoping I don’t get tagged by Weas’ spam disposal. Akismet has left a trail of bodies in it’s wake while protecting her from evil.

www dot huntingfishinginc dot com slash 14rerogr dot html

For anyone else out there that has been following the digital art aspect of this thread, run on down and get yourself a Wacom tablet. They are too inexpensive to live without these days. I even took mine on travel – it also gave the inspection guys something fun to look at as well. Still learning how to use it properly but no one said it would be without a curve. Trying to learn how to do proper digital oil-painting.


Comment from TattooedIntellectual
Time: May 26, 2008, 3:25 pm

Yeah, Uncle B, but washing a cast iron (for me at least) involves some hot water a scrubber and a touch of salt if something is caked on. Quick scrub, then it goes back on the stove for a coat of Crisco. Not really all that more involved than rinsing dishes before loading.

The weight isn’t always a fun thing. When our big fryer is full it’s definitely a two-handed lift.


Comment from LemurKing
Time: May 26, 2008, 3:30 pm

Happy Memorial Day is correct. You tend to look at it as a day to be thankful for the sacrifices (sometimes horrible) that others have made. I have talked to a lot of vets and it does their heart more good to see people smiling and happy than if everyone looked like they’d rather cry all the time. I think its sort of like me wanting a wake and no crying when I go. I want people to remember the good times, have a lot of laughs, and drink a few really good beers for me.

A well seasoned pan requires very little in the way of cleanup, a lot like my steel wok. I think that is the biggest myth about it. You just can’t use a harsh scrubber on them or you will always use a harsh scrubber – no season.

And no, cast iron does not work well as a saucier and you cannot flip/toss to mix very well. Stainless has it’s place in the arsenal.


Comment from S. Weasel
Time: May 26, 2008, 3:42 pm

My favorite cleaning trick is to fill the skillet with water, put it on the burner and heat it to boiling for a few seconds, and then wipe it out with a paper towel. There are not many frying pan messes that don’t respond to that and it tends not to de-season it.


Comment from Allen
Time: May 26, 2008, 4:27 pm

I also include remembering our allies today. I had the good fortune to be attached to a British unit once, the Royal Green Jackets.

Crazy bastards, but fun. “Pull ’em down you Zulu Warriors, pull ’em down you Zulu chiefs…” A song I learned in the NAAFI from them. I can’t believe I still remember that.


Comment from LemurKing
Time: May 26, 2008, 4:52 pm

Allen – VERY good point. They never would have imagined it several hundred years ago that the Brits would be some of our staunchest allies today.

I remember after 9/11 the HUGE response from the British. It was very moving.

And those of you who have woks but find them troublesome… get them *blistering* hot and then dump a 1/2C of water in and swirl it around. You only have to do that once or twice and then wipe it. Before you know it, the thing will look like it’s been used for years.


Comment from Uncle Badger
Time: May 26, 2008, 5:09 pm

Thanks for that wok, tip – very useful!

I used to be quite keen on stainless steel, too. Well, in fact I still am for saucepans, but a very expensive frying pan was a bad mistake – stuff burned and stuck on the bottom.

Post 9/11 here was very heartening. Within hours, one of our local pubs had found the biggest US flag I’d seen here and more or less covered an outside wall in it, while at a local parade on Bonfire Night (5th November) the lead marcher carried an American Flag.

On the day itself, I was at an exhibition mostly peopled by Yanks and Brits. There was a very tangible solidarity.


Comment from Allen
Time: May 26, 2008, 5:26 pm

LK,
I think liberty comes in many forms, and though our friends may express it differently we all hold a similar vision. My hope is that one day we might be able to say “our friends in Iraq…”


Comment from S. Weasel
Time: May 26, 2008, 6:01 pm

Uncle B, didn’t they play the Star Speckled Banner at the changing of the guard that day or something? I seem to remember that.

Weird 9/11 fact: Uncle B was at an exhibition in London, as he said. He called me in Boston after the first plane hit…and again after the second plane hit. And then he couldn’t get a call through for the whole rest of the day. Did the authorities slow intercontinental phone traffic to a trickle so they could monitor it, or was the system just overloaded? Dunno.

Stupid 9/11 fact: I was in the act of making plane reservations to go to London when the first plane hit. And I was still shopping around when the second one hit. It wasn’t until they grounded all traffic that I realized what a futile thing I was doing.


Comment from S. Weasel
Time: May 26, 2008, 6:24 pm

THE STAR SPECKLED BANNER? Have I been drinking moron juice all day?!?

That’s so dumb, I’m embarrassed to go back and change it. I deserve the ridicule…


Comment from Enas Yorl
Time: May 26, 2008, 6:46 pm

Hee hee! I thought it was funny, Weasel. Happy Memorial Day!

Oh, and I’m gonna have beer-steamed hot dogs in a bit. Mmmmm hot dogs!


Comment from Uncle Badger
Time: May 26, 2008, 6:51 pm

They did play it, yes.

I think, at that point, you could rightly say the hatchet had been well and truly buried 😉

Not far from Badger House is a sad little sight that seems very relevant to mention today.

I’d often driven past the lone US flag flapping in the breeze at the edge of a field and wondered why it was there. Maybe the local farmer hailed from the USA, or perhaps his wife did?

After a while I had to stop and look. It is, it turns out, a small memorial to a WWII US bomber pilot who steered his stricken Liberator away from a local village and crashed on that very spot, losing his life in the process.

They named the place after him.

There are many such sad little pieces of America here.

They are well maintained and they are not forgotten.


Comment from LemurKing
Time: May 26, 2008, 7:09 pm

Thought is was odd terminology but since everybody knew exactly what you meant it was like “Oh, that Weas…” 🙂

Allen – Most folks in Iraq are so like you and me that we could sit down for half an hour and be good friends – and I do call them friends even now. Then there’s the offshoots that let blind hatred get in the way. In fact there’s quite a few good things that are coming out of Iraq as our soldiers try to help out there, but you’d never hear it from the news. They are too busy reporting about a bombing of a house where terrorists/insurgents are meeting, which happens to have women and children in it. Pretty effective propaganda weapon to use women and children as human shields.

9/11 – the system got overloaded in a hurry, Weas. I was at work, heard commotion in the hall. Irritably stuck my head out of my office to say “Geez people.” One of the guys told me and I was like “quit shittin’ me”. Later after #2, went over to a buddy/co-worker’s house (we weren’t getting anything done anyway) and we sat and watched and watched up to the point where they showed folks jumping. I was so furious and so shaken.


Comment from Steamboat McGoo
Time: May 26, 2008, 7:16 pm

Star Speckled Banner?

I like it. It’s like that Spangled Dick stuff we were talking about the other day…

…And the Boogie Hymn Of The Republic.


Comment from Allen
Time: May 26, 2008, 7:30 pm

LK, I know I’ve been over on the reconstruction side of things.

New contest:

Star “Speckled” Banner
Star “Sputtered” Banner
Star “Splattered” Banner
Star “Sweaseled” Banner

Join in.

Weasel, priceless.


Comment from Uncle Badger
Time: May 26, 2008, 7:38 pm

For some reason I see a flag with one weasel for every state… and each one of them as grumpy as hell.


Comment from porknbean
Time: May 26, 2008, 7:52 pm

Happy Memorial Day you mustelids, morons, and assorted assholery (self-described by McGoo but meant in a good way) imaginery innertube friends.
Fly that flag and eat a pork steak…er..pork steaks are big time here in the St. Louis region. No barbecue is complete without pork steaks.
Good thing my sister-n-law cooked. Bad storms kept us all awake most of the night. The lightening/thunder was teh awesome..in a bad way.


Comment from LemurKing
Time: May 26, 2008, 7:54 pm

Good on you, Allen, those folks could sure use some help. Military or Civilian?

I vote for “Star Sweaseled Banner”.

Optionally –

Star “Sprinkled” Banner
Star “Scandaled” Banner (thank you, Bill Clinton)
Star “Spandexed” Banner
Star “Wrangled” Banner

(gasp) Badger… Weasels are… grumpy? Really, really?


Comment from Lokki
Time: May 26, 2008, 8:06 pm

In Remembrance:

N FLANDERS FIELDS the poppies blow
Between the crosses row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

No, Not an American poem…. but true

http://www.legacy.com/Soldier/home.aspx


Comment from Allen
Time: May 26, 2008, 8:06 pm

LK, civilian side of things.

I am waiting for the Badger graphic carrying the Union Jack myself.


Comment from Lokki
Time: May 26, 2008, 8:14 pm

Sigh… Akismet is not very patriotic.


Comment from Mrs. Peel
Time: May 26, 2008, 9:39 pm

Uncle B, I’m glad to know about that memorial. Thanks.

LK, I’m sure there will be a party when I kick the bucket, but it probably won’t be quite the kind you are describing. 😉

My parents are big on the All-Clad stuff. I will say, those pans cook fast, and they spread the heat very evenly. But they are so HEAVY!!! I can barely lift them. And they’re a bitch to clean, because you have to use Barkeeper’s Friend, and you have to be very gentle. It’s nerve-wracking.


Comment from Steamboat McGoo
Time: May 26, 2008, 10:04 pm

Makes me think of a Sherlock Holmes mystery:

The Inn Of The Grumpy Weasel.


Comment from EW1(SG)
Time: May 26, 2008, 10:24 pm

Rule 1. Badgers don’t wash-up by hand

Combine Weasel’s method with TI’s: bring some hot water to a boil, wipe it out with a brush or paper towelling, put it back on the burner to evaporate the water off, and if it looks “dry” anywhere after the water has dried up, touch it up a bit with any cooking lipid.

Seems to me I have an extra chicken pan, you’re interested, Weasel.


Comment from EW1(SG)
Time: May 26, 2008, 10:26 pm

They are well maintained and they are not forgotten.

No, they are not forgotten.

Happy Memorial Day, all.


Comment from LemurKing
Time: May 26, 2008, 11:31 pm

EW1… I *know* what you meant but did you just say “cooking lipid”?

Good gravy, man, at least Weas had an honest sporadic paraphasic event, but you probably chose to say “lipid” didn’t you? Most likely she just saw some robin’s eggs today and “speckled” was on the brain. But one doesn’t just see lipids lying around on every streetcorner. 🙂

(I am practicing ginormously exaggerated hypocrisy here and pullin’ your leg, too)

Howdy EW1 and thanks for your service!

– LK


Comment from EW1(SG)
Time: May 26, 2008, 11:54 pm

Good gravy, man, at least Weas had an honest sporadic paraphasic event, but you probably chose to say “lipid” didn’t you?

Er, yes. My paraphasic events are rather dishonest like that.

Happy Memorial Day, Lemur King & all the little Lemurs at home!


Comment from LemurKing
Time: May 27, 2008, 1:00 am

The little Lemurs are all tucked in with duct-tape and cables and the Cruel Wife Lemur has shambled off to bed, leaving me to wait out a migraine while painting – trying to sleep during an episode is futile if you aren’t exhausted enough to pass out.

I’ll post the rough painting in a few minutes… what the hell.


Comment from Lokki
Time: May 27, 2008, 9:48 am

The last post regarding Memorial Day

Taps

Day is done, gone the sun,
From the lake, from the hills, from the sky;
All is well, safely rest, God is nigh.

Fading light, dims the sight,
And a star gems the sky, gleaming bright.
From afar, drawing nigh, falls the night.

Thanks and praise, for our days,
‘Neath the sun, ‘neath the stars, neath the sky;
As we go, this we know, God is nigh.

Sun has set, shadows come,
Time has fled, Scouts must go to their beds
Always true to the promise that they made.

While the light fades from sight,
And the stars gleaming rays softly send,
To thy hands we our souls, Lord, commend


Comment from bad cat robot
Time: May 27, 2008, 11:23 am

Whenever I hear the word “lipid” I immediately start mumbling this poem to myself (wait for the pdf to automagically appear). Scientists are quite dangerous when visited by the Muse.

I’m sure my father’s brief WWII sojourn on the Sceptered Isle is memorialized somewhere, probably in a police blotter, but he made it out alive if with a strange fondness for Guinness.


Comment from LemurKing
Time: May 27, 2008, 11:36 am

I’m not sure a fondness for Guinness would necessarily be classified as strange. McEwans might be strange, but surely not Guinness?

So if I read it correctly, ’tis a poem about a chemist who is so busy studying that he neglects to realize that he’s dying of a viper bite? I’m only on my third cup of coffee and it takes two pots to kick-start my brain. Point is I might’ve gotten that wrong.


Comment from bad cat robot
Time: May 27, 2008, 12:56 pm

The strangeness is I’ve never seen him drink any beer *but* Guinness. I love the stuff myself, but you must admit it’s not a beginner’s beer.

“Hiawatha’s Lipid” should be approached in the same manner as “The Hunting of the Snark” — revel in the pure chunks of nonsense, eschew this whole “making sense” piffle. I mean, it mentions the body fat of quokkas! Walrus liver! (and it is a patient, not Hiawatha, who has the venom issue)


Comment from Lokki
Time: May 27, 2008, 1:08 pm

“Hiawatha’s Lipid” is a lovely piece of work in all senses of the phrase….

I now await my chance -even it takes years to work it into a conversation.

I’ll try to remember to credit you Bad Cat Robot.


Comment from Wanda
Time: October 28, 2008, 1:07 pm

You write very well.


Comment from S. Weasel
Time: October 28, 2008, 1:24 pm

Thank you, Wanda. I like to think so. But considering this posts consists of seven very bland sentences, I’m going to call you spam and pull your URL.

You sneaky minx, you.


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