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pimientos

To be fair, that’s a 24-pack, so it’s really only £8.28 ($12.40) per four-ounce jar. Yes, I really had been shopping for pimientos. I crave the weirdest things from the past, in this case pimiento cheese.

Not craving it that hard.

This is a strange story to grow out of DNA analysis. Half of modern men in Western Europe are descended from a single man who lived 4,000 years ago.

I’m having trouble understanding that. Something like 10% of men inside the borders of Genghis Khan’s old empire are descended from him. But he only lived about 750 years ago and we have tons of documented evidence that he murdered the men and screwed the women on an unimaginable scale.

So how can half the male population be descended from one ancestor? I’m thinking he must have murdered, screwed AND had some natural catastrophe wipe out most everyone else. Also, this paragraph from the link:

He was part of a new order which emerged in Europe following the Stone Age, sweeping away the previous egalitarian Neolithic period and replacing it with hierarchical societies which were ruled by a powerful elite.

Egalitarian, huh. Hard science or hippie bullshit? You decide!

Finally, to get you in the mood for the weekend, enjoy this stroll down the romantic streets of Paris. Y’all have a good weekend, y’hear?

Comments


Comment from Veeshir
Time: September 16, 2016, 9:26 pm

So at the end of the Stone Age?

It’s Conan! Has to be. Leaving little bastids and men with horns strewn in his wake as he battled and boinked his way across Europe.

So they got the movie totally wrong, it wasn’t the Riddle of Steel, it was the Riddle of Bronze.


Comment from Uncle Al
Time: September 16, 2016, 9:43 pm

Can you make pimiento cheese with something other than Velveeta? I’ve never had it any other way, but thinking about it a bit I think I may try fontina instead, or perhaps butterkäse.

So it looks like 4,000 years ago they already had sperm banks administrators with delusions of godhood.

I just crossed Paris off my list of the places I want to visit before I get too old.


Comment from Deborah HH
Time: September 16, 2016, 9:48 pm

Oh no Stoaty! $12 for a jar of pimentos? The English can grow anything—why not pimentos? Full disclosure: I whipped up a bowl of pimento cheese last night so I could pack a lunch for Husband this morning. It’s one of my ace-in-the-hole foods, like Beanee Weenies. Husband has grown pimentos—oh how wonderful they smell when roasting, which I did in the oven not over a flame. Aren’t pimento seeds sold in the U.K.?

@Uncle Al—do you want my recipe for Pimento Cheese? I don’t use Velveeta.


Comment from EAinGA
Time: September 16, 2016, 9:52 pm

Ms. Weasel try roasting and chopping fresh peppers or trying canned Spanish pimentos. It will taste a bit different but once you add cheese and mayonnaise it will be good.
Of Course, I am assuming Spanish pimentos are cheaper in England.


Comment from S. Weasel
Time: September 16, 2016, 10:55 pm

Deborah, the British are so gay, they call beanie weenies cassoulet.


Comment from Subotai Bahadur
Time: September 16, 2016, 11:56 pm

Fall is coming. I cook on Tuesday nights. Next cold Tuesday night, I’m making Beanie-Weenies a’la Anglais.


Comment from AliceH
Time: September 17, 2016, 12:59 am

How much do they charge for pimiento-stuffed olives? I mean, they aren’t that hard to extract.


Comment from Timbo
Time: September 17, 2016, 8:41 am

Just compared a cassoulet recipe with Beanie Weenies. Apart from a certain discrepancy in ingredients the cooking time says it all; four and a half hours vs five minutes. Guess which is which.


Comment from S. Weasel
Time: September 17, 2016, 10:19 am

Timbo, that’s like comparing homemade baked beans with Heinz baked beans. In fact, it’s exactly like that.

Pimiento stuffed olives are an option, AliceH. I did think that. They’re quite cheap; I used to have them around for martinis.


Comment from Deborah HH
Time: September 17, 2016, 2:06 pm

Cheese spread made with chopped pimento-stuffed olives sounds rather tasty, actually. Maybe too salty for a sandwich, but definitely on a little cracker as an appetizer. And sometimes what I fix for supper amounts to an appetizer anyway.

Baking chicken with beans—that stopped me in my tracks. And there’s no chili powder in that recipe!


Comment from S. Weasel
Time: September 17, 2016, 2:37 pm

The cassoulet that comes in cans from the supermarket is just straight up beanie weenies.


Comment from Uncle Badger
Time: September 17, 2016, 6:27 pm

Weasel speaks with forked tongue. Heinz sells its beans and bangers as Heinz Baked Beans with Pork Sausages and most of the imitation brands call them the same.

We had no idea what ‘beanie weanies’ were until the Mayflower returned home with a message saying ‘Help! Verily hath I left my book of receipts in the second drawer down! God hath stricken us accordingly and we must partake of vile foreign foods (and forsooth to learn this silly new accent which hath become the fashion). We are undone! Y’all. Love, Goody Halfwit’

There are some exceptionally pretentious shops that flog cans of imported French cassoulet. If you purchase one you have to sign for it accepting all responsibility, as is only right and proper.

I hope that sets the matter straight. Oh, and as for ‘pimiento’. It has a second ‘i’? Who knew? Talk about ‘ghey’…


Comment from Deborah HH
Time: September 17, 2016, 8:48 pm

I have always pronounced it incorrectly—so to make up, I spell it incorrectly, too 🙂 I have no memory of ever hearing it pronounced pim-ee-ento. We Texans do some awful things to words. You should hear me say Chiles Rellenos. Even worse was when I tried to cook them.

But I can say Don Quixote properly!


Comment from Uncle Al
Time: September 17, 2016, 9:16 pm

I learned Spanish as a boy and so “pimiento” is just naturally pronounced “pee-meeYEN-toe” as that happens to be the word for pepper of all sorts. But over here we Merkins elide the second i when speaking. “Pih-MEN-toe” is A-OK.

And Yes, please, Deborah HH, I’d very much like to have the recipe/receipt for your pimiento cheese!

Chiles rellenos? Don Quixote? You can’t be called a real Spanish speaker until you can properly pronounce the word for railroad: ferrocarril. In Buenos Aires I used to go to some school events on the Ferrocarril Nacional General Bartolomé Mitre.


Comment from Deborah HH
Time: September 17, 2016, 11:18 pm

Pimiento Cheese 🙂

8 oz. cream cheese, softened
8 oz. sharp cheddar cheese (I like Tillamook)
4 oz. jar diced pimientos (Goya is a wonderful brand)
3 tablespoons mayonnaise
2 or 3 shakes of Tabasco sauce or several grinds of black pepper

Let the cream cheese soften in a small mixing bowl, or you can speed up construction by using the microwave on lowest setting for about 4 minutes. Grate the cheese on the large holes (not the small). Use the whole jar of pimientos—do not drain off the water. It’s full of flavor and thins the matrix slightly so you don’t need so much mayo. Trust.

Mix the cream cheese and pimiento together, then stir in the grated cheddar a little bit at a time. I do measure the mayo. You can always add more but you can’t take out too much mayo. Ditto the Tabasco. It’s very soft at this stage; refrigerate overnight so it sets up and the flavors marry. Then you can check for more mayo or Tabasco the next day. You can use Kraft Miracle Whip instead of mayo, if you prefer sweetish over savory. Husband wants sandwiches, but I like it best on crackers, and sometimes apple slices.

And I am definitely going to try making the spread with chopped olives/pimientos. Maybe a half-batch. I wonder how a bit of vermouth would taste in it?

Re: ferrocarril. Alas, I cannot roll the RRRRs. It sounds like a train wreck when I try.


Comment from Uncle Al
Time: September 18, 2016, 1:42 am

Thanks 1e6 D. HH – I’ll be trying this w/in the next few days. Yummm…


Comment from AliceH
Time: September 18, 2016, 3:19 am

I confess I have never had either beanie weenies or pimento cheese. I hope that isn’t grounds for losing my American citizenship.


Comment from Wolfus Aurelius
Time: September 19, 2016, 1:11 pm

The Spanish word for railroad: “Fer-RRRRRR-o-car-RRRRRR-eel.”

Now I shall go lie down. That was exhausting.


Comment from Mrs Compton
Time: September 19, 2016, 7:08 pm

I’m in Normandy right now. Will be heading to Paris on Thursday. To say I was excited would make you wrong. I even went out of my way to break a rib so I could cancel the trip. Mr Compton didn’t go for it. Wish me luck and send all the prayers you can.

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