verbatim

Stick to Your Ribs

This photo earned me at least one Twitter marriage proposal, and several self-invited dinner guests. If you like ribs, you would've loved these. I do the same thing every time, but these were exceptionally good.

I served coleslaw and cornbread alongside, as usual, but this time I tried a Southern-style (that is, unsweetened) cornbread—once again, from The Cornbread Gospels. It was good, but you know what? This Northerner prefers a little sweetness. Granted, when combined with the BBQ sauce and coleslaw, you don't notice, but I like the taste of a very lightly sweetened cornbread slathered with butter, all on its own. That being said, this would be a very nice accompaniment to chili or some other dish where you pretty much have to mop and dip.

Basic Southern Cornbread

¼ cup butter or bacon drippings (I used butter but promptly kicked myself for not using bacon drippings, which I keep in the fridge.)
2 cups fine stone-ground white cornmeal (I had only yellow on hand.)
1 tsp salt
½ tsp baking soda
½ tsp baking powder
1 egg
1½ cups buttermilk

1. Preheat oven to 450°.

2. Place butter in a 10" cast-iron skillet and put skillet in oven to heat.

3. Combine dry ingredients in a large bowl. In a small bowl, beat together egg and buttermilk. Add wet mixture to dry, using the absolute minimum number of strokes needed to moisten dry with wet.

4. Remove hot skillet from oven and swirl it around so the butter coats the bottom and lower sides of the skillet. Then pour the remainder of the hot butter into the batter, and stir a couple of times.

5. Dump the batter into the hot skillet, put the skillet back into the oven, and bake the cornbread until it is golden brown, 20–25 minutes. Serve, hot, in wedges from the pan.

Fun with the Google

We haven't done this in a while—let's see what Google search strings led people to my blog today, shall we?

timeline of refrigerator: You buy it because it seems awesome; it's awesome for a little while; then it breaks down repeatedly. Or at least that's been my experience—your mileage may vary.

what does pork butt look like? Not what you'd think. It's not actually the butt, but the shoulder. Really. It just looks like a hunk o' meat.

how do you spell supercede: Not like that. Hint: It's the only word in the English language that ends with "-sede."

do you write dear to whom it may concern: No, you don't. You may write "Dear So-and-So" or "To whom it may concern," but never "Dear To...."

arroz con pollo recipe awesome: It really is—and I haven't made it in ages, so thanks for the reminder!

spatchcocked: Sounds so dirty, doesn't it? It just means that a chicken or other bird has had the backbone cut out, and then the whole thing gets opened up like a book and pressed flat. That makes it cook faster.

cover letter to dear whom it may concern: No, no, no. Once again, it's either "Dear So-and-So" or "To whom it may concern," but never "Dear whom it may concern."

verbatim in a sentence: If you can recite any of my blog posts verbatim, then you are probably spending a leetle too much time here. Not that I mind, of course....

krogers jarlsberg cheese spread: We don't have a Kroger's here, so I can't help you there. But try this easy, yummy recipe.

timothy treadwell idiot: Indeed.

Smelly Washer: Vanquished!

Yes, this is about my godforsaken washing machine again, but this time it's a more subtle problem: It stinks. And I don't just mean the fact that the entire agitator comes out of the machine when I remove the clothes (and if you think I'm going to call the Maytag repairman, you haven't been reading this blog very long). I mean it really stinks. It smells. It's putrid. Ewww. I notice it only when it's open, and luckily the smell doesn't seem to get on the laundry. But it smells awful, and it's (not surprisingly) worse in the warm weather. 

The amazing thing about the Internet Tubes is that you can search for "smelly washer," and the next thing you know, you get an email from a guy offering to send you a free bottle of an all-natural product called Smelly Washer to try. 

All you do is put a capful of the magical powder in the machine and fill it with hot water, let it agitate for 2 minutes, and then leave it to sit overnight. In the morning, just finish the cycle. I did it on the smallest possible load size, because the stagnant stinky water seems to be hanging out at the bottom of the tub, not all the way up the sides.

Fast-forward to the voilà moment: No more stink! Really! Nothing! I was amazed.

But here's the kicker: It said that you could use the product for all your smelly towels that got ruined by your smelly washer. As I said, I am lucky enough that I never had this problem; however, I did have a pair of beyond-smelly chinos. (Not the fault of the Maytag: I think they were somehow a casualty of last summer's seashell incident. They smelled fishy enough that Andy didn't want to wear them, but they were brand new—he'd worn them exactly once—so I couldn't bear to throw them out. I guess I was sort of hoping the odor would fade after a decade or two.) So, with nothing to lose (except for the stench of rotten fish), I gave them the Smelly Washer treatment. Reader, they have absolutely no odor to them anymore. None. At. All.

I hope none of you have a smelly washer, but if you do, you've got to try this stuff. If you order a bottle from the website, you can get 10% off by using the promotional code "verbatim" (clever, eh?). Or, if you're feeling lucky in addition to stinky, you can leave a comment below to be entered to win a free bottle of Smelly Washer right here. I'll take entries until this Friday night, November 13, at midnight Eastern time. Please make sure you leave your email address so I can reach you if you win.

In case anyone from the FTC is reading this: I did not receive any money for posting this review. I received a free bottle of Smelly Washer and was told that I could offer one of my readers a free bottle as well. FTC employees are welcome to enter the giveaway if they have smelly washers too.

Making Progress

Steph's Bat Mitzvah invitations came in! They're pale pink with dark brown print, and we are both pleased with how they turned out. Now to just finalize the guest list and get all the labels printed out.... I have to get stamps soon too, or else I'll end up with Christmas trees or Jesus on the cross.

Did I mention that we also found Steph a dress? It wasn't the one I had in mind, but it was one she liked best, so that settled that. It's also pink, but more of a dusty rose color. Julie and I still need dresses.

I also finally got off my duff and called the caterer; we're going to set up a meeting to start talking about the menu.

I guess we're going through with this thing after all.

Photo Phinish

Remember that yummy pasta dish I made a couple of months ago? Well, I made it again tonight, and this time I remembered to take a photo:

Friday iPod Random Ten

1. Spirits in the Night - Bruce Springsteen
2. Down to the River to Pray - Alison Krauss
3. Blue Highway - Eilen Jewell
4. Prison Girls - Neko Case
5. Rock 'n' Roll Doctor (live) - Little Feat
6. I Fought the Law - The Clash   
7. Head Full of Doubt/Road Full of Promise - The Avett Brothers
8. Rainy Day Blues  Willie Nelson & Johnny Lang
9. Girlfriend Is Better - Talking Heads
20 Love Is the Seventh Wave - The Duhks

Paper Towels, I Wish I Could Quit You

I try very hard to be as "green" as possible. Sure, there are certain conveniences I will never give up, because the environmentally friendly alternatives are pretty distasteful (reusable tampons, I'm talkin' to you!), but for the most part I do all the right things. I try to buy products with minimal packaging, I reuse bags and plastic containers as much as I can until they're dead, I recycle everything I possibly can (about this I'm downright OCD, salvaging every tiny scrap of paper and bit of aluminum foil), and so on. I am lucky that my city picks up pretty much all glass, plastic, aluminum, cardboard, and paper. Plastic bags that are no longer usable get taken to the recycling bin at Whole Foods.

Lately I've been keeping an eye on what ends up in the trash every day. Some things are unavoidable: packaging on meat products (foam trays, butcher paper, plastic shrinkwrap), non-disposer-friendly food (meat bones, banana peels, peach pits), nonrecyclable packaging (empty toothpaste tubes, candy wrappers, those mesh onion sacks), miscellaneous items (used tissues, burnt-out lightbulbs, dried-out markers), and lots and lots of paper towels.

I'm trying so hard to be better about the paper towels. The first proactive step I took was to start buying those rolls where the perforations divide a standard sheet into thirds, and I was pleasantly surprised to discover that I rarely need more than one third of a sheet to do whatever wiping job needs doing. Next, I started using a cheapo dishrag for meal prep—for mopping up spills or wiping my hands—and then tossing it in the laundry. I do keep a sponge (which, granted, is pretty skeevy when you think about it) for minor spills, and I just put it through the dishwasher* whenever I run it. I eventually end up tossing the sponges, though, whereas the dishrags last nearly forever—and then get to spend the next chapter of their little textile lives as household cleaning rags. 

I will always reach for a paper towel to wipe up greasy kitchen messes, scoop up cat puke, or squish bugs, but I've already noticed that I'm buying fewer rolls since I cut down on towel size and frequency of use. That of course means that I'm putting less paper in the landfills, although it's not really noticeable in terms of my own trashbag volume. Well, it's a start.

How about you? Does your community have a good recycling program? What ends up in your trash?

*I know that some people put their dirty sponges in the microwave to disinfect them, but they don't come out clean! Perhaps all the evil bacteria is killed off, but they're still covered in tomato sauce or beaten egg or whatever it was you were mopping up. The dishwasher does a great job.

Where Did the Fall Go?

I just realized that Thanksgiving is THREE weeks from tomorrow, and I haven't done a thing about it. I do happen to know that we'll be down to 17 from the usual 26, which might mean that I can get away with one turkey instead of two—whattaya think? Although a bunch of my Twitter pals just invited themselves, and you never know when people are serious or just joking around by the way they type....

I wish I could just skip right to the leftover stuffing and gravy the next day.

The Future Is Now

If you had told me just a few years ago that I could elect a black man (with a strange first name) as my mayor, my governor, and my president, I would have rolled my eyes and snorted. But as of today's local election, it's true.

My mayor, Setti Warren:

My governor, Deval Patrick:

 

My president, Barack Obama:

 

My kids don't know what the big deal is. Isn't that great?

Just for Fun

1. "What's the weather, what to wear? Obama helps you everywhere!" The prez suggests I bring my umbrella tomorrow.

2. Speaking of the Obamas, did you see how magnificent Michelle looked as Cat Woman on Halloween?

3. Just the other day I told you about the clever tweets coming my way via @FakeAPStyleBook; now the guys behind the tweets have been outed.

4. That post would have been a good place to include this review of a grammar handbook that has been revised numerous times over the years and is still full of really bad errors. Don't believe me? How about this one:

SUBJECT	PREDICATE
My	word!

Oy!

5. And here's a spelling test from the Times. I didn't get 'em all, but I did very well. How about you? (via Nancy)