Toadfish Monastery

Hey kids...  I'm looking to debone a turkey and cook it up for a party on Friday, but I'm not sure what to do with the cavity left by the deboning.  If I was leaving it bone-in, I'd probably not be stuffing the durned thing, but since I am, I need an alternative to the usual bread-based stuffings to fill the cavity.

The emphasis here will be flavouring and moistening the turkey, and not necessarily having an accompanying side dish, as this is a 40th b-day drinkfest (we'll most likely be eating turkey sandwiches out-of-hand).  Just looking for some outside ideas - otherwise I'll probably jam in some onions, garlic and fresh herbs before I sew it shut.

So....  any suggestions?

Bonus points for any good poultry rub ideas for the outside of the bird!

Toxic Nation has recently published some interesting data on the presence of chemicals in four Canadian politicians:

QuoteEach politician was tested for 103 chemicals
• PBDEs (polybrominated diphenyl ethers),
• PFCs (perfluorinated chemicals),
• PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls),
• PAHs (polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons),
• OPIMs (organophosphate insecticide metabolites),
• OCPs (organochlorine pesticides), and
• metals such as lead and mercury.

I got a big kick out of the fact that Jack Layton had the highest concentration of flame retardant chemicals in his analytical results - necessary for the leader of the NDP.  Check it out, it's pretty light reading, and directly applicable to Americans as well, I suspect. 

Direct link to report:
http://www.environmentaldefence.ca/toxicnation/resources/publications.htm#3

There's also two other reports available, one on Canadians in general and one on Canadian families (Polluted Children, Toxic Nation: A Report on Pollution in Canadian Families

toxicnation.ca

I ran across a Quirks & Quarks radio article about our humble toadfish on the CBC website - it seems that the toadfish secretes waste urea (like mammals) but uses it as a 'cloaking device':

QuoteToadfish Pee

Most organisms need to get rid of bodily waste at regular intervals, and usually it's just excreted and the animal moves on. Except for the toadfish. Not one to be wasteful, the toadfish has come up with a way to put its own waste to clever use. While most fish pee is in the form of ammonia, the toadfish produces a mix of ammonia and urea -- which is the kind of urine most land animals, like ourselves, produce. But producing urea is an energetically expensive form of waste that land animals produce only because ammonia is toxic in their environment. That's not the case for fish, and that had Dr. Patrick Walsh wonder why the toadfish would go to such lengths. It turns out the ammonia attracts predators, but by mixing in equal parts urea, the predator can't track the toadfish. So while most fish would excrete their ammonia and quickly move on, the toadfish uses its pee as a chemical cloak. Dr. Walsh is a professor of biology at the University of Ottawa and holds a Canada Research Chair in Environmental Health and Genomics.

Listen here to the radio interview (opens in Quicktime):
http://www.cbc.ca/quirks/media/2006-2007/mp3/qq-2006-11-04c.mp3

The radio clip includes audio recordings of the toadfish's 'foghorn' vocalizations!

Heh, thought Sibling Chatty might appreciate this.  Jennie's dyslexic too. 

Since the Holiday season is approaching, I thought I'd post some of the funny stuff I've collected, and hopefully get some more in return! 

This is mostly Christmas stuff so far, but any other midwinter/Solstice/end of the calendar year celebratory stuff can be jammed in here too!

WARNING: Some of this could be perceived as offensive, if one was really looking for it. 











       

I want to defend the humble holiday fruitcake, which I think has an undeservedly bad reputation.  I make a point of eating a couple of slices whenever I encounter it...  it's good!

I've never given or received the stuff as a gift, and have encountered both home-made and store bought varieties.   Mom does a natural fruit cake recipe... without the candied fruits, and WITH a good soaking (or three) of rum. 

Note:  Split from elsewhere.  Canadian Smalltalk is 90% weather-based, unless beer is involved.  What's it doing outside where you are?




The cold snap looks to continue here, although it might get warm enough for a walk. It warmed up to -19 C so far today....  Hoping for -12 thisafter.

In other words... a weekend for staying in and warm.

Quote from: Sibling Lambicus the Toluous on October 31, 2006, 02:37:33 PM

QuoteJust LOOK at the number of gullible idiots who purchase LOTTERY TICKETS, for a FINE example of the number of people totally ignorant of STATISTICS.

I actually figured out the odds for our local lottery, and occasionally when they get a BIG jackpot, the expected value is slightly above the price of a ticket.

Personally, I see lotteries and gambling to be entertainment: I approach it like I would the movies.  If I play craps (which I haven't done in a while, but I do like it), it's for the fun of the game; the money I'll probably lose is the cost of admission.

I've been thinking that I should start playing the lottery, despite the odds.  Given that I can afford the $104 a year (used to be $1 to play the 649, bleah), I should grab a set of numbers and play it at one ticket weekly.  My fiancee' usually will buy multiple tickets, on occasional large jackpots (3 or 4 times a year), and she's been lucky to the point that we are ahead so far... probably have spent <$100 to date and one a small prize of $110 plus a few free tickets and $10 prizes.  But it needs to be approached strictly as lost money (good point on entertainment) with no chance of return.  Those who are scraping money from necessities and depending on the "big break" to get them ahead are in deep doo...

In any case, I prefer the Meat Draw.  Better odds, and I'm definitely close to break-even on that (2 turkeys and a large ham last time, for <$30 in tickets, and a couple of hours entertainment for me, fiancee' and Grandma).

Ach, thread drift.

From Theif of Time (Pratchett):

In the Second Scroll of Wen the Eternally Surprised a story is written concerning one day when the apprentice Clodpool, in a rebellious mood, approached Wen and spake thusly:  'Master, what is the difference between a humanistic, monastic system of belief in which wisdom is taught by means of an apparently nonsensical system of questions and answers, and a lot of mystic gibberish made up on the spur of the moment?'

Wen considered this for some time, and at last said: 'A fish!'
And Clodpool went away, satisfied.

:toadfish:

Anyone from Iowa care to elect a Pirate?

http://www.jameshillforcongress.com/pirate_stand.php

QuoteI would have your wife right in front of you. I would smoke the last of your glaucoma medication. Then I will surely drink your liquor cabinet dry. However, know this my friend. I will never break an oath to uphold the public trust. My affidavit will be signed in my own blood. A Pirates crimson mark, with real binding effects into my after life. Laugh if you will then ask yourself if you could do it. 

.... continuing on from a Snark thread in Omnia.  Just a couple of items sent via the Albertans for Racial Equality mailing list.

Now, I realize what's happening here is relatively minor compared to what happens in some other places, but that doesn't make it any less a steaming pile of :

The news clip:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=plQpLPy1eao

The email:
"Before Stampede started, a few friends and I went to get jobs at the MYNT for the ten days as doorstaff. Ironically, I work in human resources for an oil company but I didn't think being hired as the "token" black guy was that big a deal, until the MANAGER/OWNER of the club sat down and asked if we would have a problem with their policies. After you read them maybe all of you young urban professionals can see why maybe I figured I didn't need the money that bad.

"We don't want black, asain, east indian men in the club. You can say it's a private party, you can say 25 yrs and up only, depending on what they look like. If they want to pay an extra $20 per guy make a judgement call because we don't want to many ethnics with too much money drawing girls away from our white male patrons basically. I know you seen how some asians tie up the bar buying like 80 shots at a time. Maybe 10 or 15 max every hour but no more. You have to stick with that ok"
 
"Okay", I said.
 
"Try and pick out the Lebs too if you can"(Lebanese for those of you without the kkk handbook) "You dont have a problem with that?"
 
"No problem"
 
"Great! Now with girls, do your best to not let in too many black and east indian girls. I mean, you can't turn them all away, but our ratio we would like to keep is 2/3 out of every 10 max. It may get testy at the line with chicks. Don't get me wrong, if they're really hot, let them in man! But let's try and make sure in a group that the majority are white and asian woman. ( Remember, its a "known" fact that white men like white and asian girls the best, took me a bit to figure this out) If it's 5/6 girls and they don't have at least 3 or 4 white girls with them, stall them
at the line and say the wait will be 30 min. Most girls will go somewhere else".

"Okay. Will I be at the front the whole time?"
 
"No, you don't really have enough experience. But at certain times we'll definitely bring you up. We can get slammed pretty quick"(Again, as I come to understand, when the line fills up with to many people of color, the  "token" bouncer of whatever race will be seen. Great way to take the edge off any possible race argument, right?

"Cool. When can I start?"
 
"Just call me after the weekend and I should have a tentative schedule for you and we'll take it from there"
 
There you have it. That's the conversation that took place at my interview.

But before you guys all burn MYNT at the stake, realize this is a common practice at 90% of the nightspots we all frequent. Cowboys, Tantra, Coyotes, Whiskey, Tequila is really bad for it too. You see, it happens to people once in a while and its like a layer of skin that develops from when we were 18 as just something that just IS. I find it funny  that clubs adopt these policies, aren't always owned by white people.
 
Whiskey isn't. An asian man owns it. They limit blacks and asians there.
 
Tequila is owned by some greek guys and a former white hip hop dj who has numerous black and asian friends. But if your group shows up there and is a little too dark, or your eyes slant a little too much, you  know what happens. Funny, huh?
   
Find other spots in town my friends. Find other stuff to go do. The reason this bugs us now is because now as adults, we know right from wrong, and we know respect is something we have all earned. I just think that rather than let this salt you to having fun in this town, you take these  people for what they are, two-faced and racist. And if someone can find a  club where I, as a black man with an asian wife, an east indian best friend and who likes Lebanese food can go hang?

Please get the word out to everyone."

Thought we should gather together a list of who's who, since many of us have/had different names on different forums.  You never know, you might have bumped into someone you know elsewhere on the net!  This should also help sort out Toadfish Sibling names for non-Siblings.

Username: Agujjim, nicknamed Aggie
Toadfish Name:Sibling Agujjim the Agathocacological
Former/Other Aliases: Dr. Otis Lansa, Gemelli

If ye be needing a leatherworker for any o' yer pirate garb (or just be lookin' for something to look at) check out http://www.myspace.com/coldainleather .

This lad be a foine hand with the hide, an' can whip ye up an eyepatch quick as a wink.  Ye may be able to talk 'im into a cat o' nine tails...

Where we store our special reserves, and a place to taste and discuss other spirituous libations of the moment.  Beer, wine, liquours, homebrew, or whatever else you're drinking.

---------

First up...

I finally tried a bottle of Unibroue Quelque Chose...  strong ale steeped with sundried cherries.  It's a 2002 special edition vintage (brewage?), and the card attached 'round the neck suggests drinking it either cold on the rocks or to heat it up like a mulled wine.  Naturally, I had to try both ways.  It's nice cold with a clove flavour along with the cherries...  no head at all and not like a beer (more like a homemade alcoholic cherry and spice iced tea).  Warmed, the clove flavour is lessened and it froths a little more, and makes a nice mug o' something to sooth a cold. 

Recommended if you like something out of the ordinary.

No competitions, just explanations, comments, and samples of new avatars (BTW, LOVE that avvies auto-size here!).

Mine's a (pissed-off) Great Horned Owl I encountered on Wednesday... here's more pics.

I swapped templates (millenium earth) and now most of the links are buggered, I can't get to the shoutbox, and I can't see a template selector.  Help!