And speaking of pour-over coffee

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Categorized under “Good ol’ American Prepper Ingenuity”

This is from weeks ago— our first morning in Budapest, 11/24/2019. Let me define the problem space. Despite spending about three weeks in early November (after Mr. Big Food semi-recovered from being a Hip Crip— remember that?) preparing to travel, I failed to pack a pour-over cone in the checked bags. Recall that we *always* travel with our own mini-electric kettle, filters, coffee, and cone so as 1) to be able to have morning coffee in our hotel room, 2) without having to shell out good money for bad hotel lobby coffee, and 3) thus ease into the day as normally as possible— which means Mr. Big Food can bring me coffee.

In my pre-travel preps, I even went so far as to investigate whether a 110V electric mini-kettle was compatible with 223V Euro electricity if I just had a simple plug adapter, and having determined that it was not, ordered an appropriately adaptable Euro kettle. (See above. It’s collapsible, so perfect for checked bags. Plus it came with some totally cool adapters which I later put to good use in service of connecting lights and computers of both USA & Euro needs. More on this American Prepper Ingenuity coming.)

Just imagine my utter embarrassment upon realizing, as I was setting up the coffee station on the little table (see above) in our room (see below), that I’d forgotten to pack the pour-over cone! (The USA pour-over cone is safely in the truck with the USA mini-kettle. But as the truck is in the USA, and we were in Budapest, lotta good that did.)

I kid you not. The whole entire hotel was “decorated” with a lemon & bicycle motif, even the carpet. If you don’t believe me, check it out: https://ibisstyles-budapestcity.com/

What is a pour-over cone? A pour over cone is a rigid thing that holds a #2 coffee filter (with ground coffee) and channels boiling water poured from a mini-electric kettle over the ground coffee in the filter into a cup and … MORNING COFFEE!!

How hard could it be to construct a pour over cone?

Turns out, not that hard at all. All you need is some flimsy plastic plates picked up at the local Spar*, a pocket knife, a rudimentary understanding of how circular things are converted to conical things in virtue of one simple cut, and something to hold together the two cut edges of your 2-D circle to form a 3-D cone.

It came as quite a surprise to learn that Mr. Big Food had managed to travel from Mississippi all the way across The Pond without a paper clip or two.

Fortunately my buds at the Prepper Forum had alerted me to the fact that there is nothing paracord cannot do. So the paracord was cut into an 8” piece, disassembled, and the fine cord used to loosely tie the two sides together (leaving a nice small opening at the bottom through which the coffee could flow). A pour over cone!

*Comments on Spar in a separate post. Suffice it to say the Spar around the corner from the Lemon Bicycles was not of the same calibre as the Gourmet Spar across the street.

A Trip to the Market

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We were out of coffee and coffee filters, and we cannot have that. So I made a trip to the market.

I picked up my bag, because bags costs money at the market. Fortunately (we are ever so worldly and know these things) we packed a bag from home. Thanks to Whole Foods for giving me, a Prime Member, this bag.

If you zoom in through the archway. you will see that I am headed for the Spar Gourmet, our local market.

Let me digress and say a word about coffee filters.

In the good old US of A we have two sorts of filters, basket filters that go in drip coffee makers, and pour over cones. Pour over cones come in two sizes, #2 and #4. Interestingly, Melitta seems to have a strangle hold on both the US and European markets in terms of brand-name coffee filters. So I felt quite at home when I saw the classic Melitta packaging.

WTH? How many different 100, 100+A, !200! sizes of filters are there? A quick google search squatting in front of the vast array turned up an item titled, “Why don’t Europeans do pour over?” Good question.

I went for the 100+A which turned out to be a bit on the small side for the drip pot in our apartment, but, as I said, WTH? That size will be close to what I need to do pour over when we get back to the hotels in the States.

Moving on.

Crossed the street and headed home.

As you are well aware, I am a BIG fan of The United States of America. But to be fair, the eggs and butter in Austria are far superior to those in the US. Not that I’d trade eggs and butter for guns… .

A New Perspective on Crappy Old Books

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  • 1577
  • 1575
  • 1568

From the collection at The First Romanian School in Brasov.

Interestingly, books and pamphlets were printed as single (double sided) pages, and not in quarto format.

A quarto (from Latin quartō, ablative form of quartus, fourth [2]) is a book or pamphlet made up of one or more full sheets of paper on which 8 pages of text were printed, which were then folded two times to produce four leaves. Each leaf of a quarto book thus represents one fourth the size of the original sheet. Each group of 4 leaves (called a “gathering” or “quire”) could be sewn through the central fold to attach it to the other gatherings to form a book. Sometimes, additional leaves would be inserted within another group to form, for example gatherings of 8 leaves, which similarly would be sewn through the central fold. Generally, quartos have more squarish proportions than folios or octavos.[3]

That Infallible Source

According to our informal guide– a retired Romania judge and friend of our host– this guy has been in the business, by himself, of preserving the school, the press, and thousands of old Romanian books for about 40 years or so. It’s impressive.

Note the lack of climate control. Most of the books are in glass cabinets, but not all.

Sadly, my relationship with Google has evolved.
I have researches to do to figure out who this dude is. Stay tuned.

In news of other crappy old books…

Google: “Round of the World”
Crappy old books everywhere we go– almost.

That’s it for now. Enjoy today!

Let’s set aside content for a moment

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and consider structure, shall we?

From earlier today while trying to link to a US local news website (maybe an Instapundit link?).

We recognize you are attempting to… and therefore access cannot be granted… .

Note the shift in voice. We recognize. Active. Therefore, access cannot be granted. Passive.

Why not say, “and therefore, we cannot grant access?”

Of course, there is the question of “we,” but we set aside content. Remember?

What a swarmy shift. We should try to diagram that sentence, shouldn’t we?

SueK– you’re up!

It just ain’t right

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to let today go by without commenting that today is December 7th.

And I know it may seem untoward to recommend a movie on The Day That Will Live in Infamy, but I’m going to recommend you watch From Here to Eternity.

If you are interested in WWII history and American Culture, see also this post at American Digest.

Sharing. Your thoughts?

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What do you make of this? Genuinely interested in your th.

[Insert your thoughts here.]

Do your thoughts change with the knowledge that this work of art measures about 10’ x 12’ or so?

Whatever you make of this as a single piece, can you conceive of it as the inspirational motif for the interior decoration (and aspects of design as well) for an entire building?

[Insert thoughts here. And since that’s not possible, comment away!]

How strange

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To evaluate a head football coach based on W-L record. What an odd concept.

“Ole Miss scheduled a player meeting Sunday night to inform the players of the decision. Senior linebacker Willie Hibbler said players, including himself and freshman Jerrion Ealy, walked out of the meeting.

“That tells you a lot,” Hibbler said. “I think they made the move off wins and losses. They didn’t make the move off how the players feel. We’re the ones praising him every day.”

https://eu.clarionledger.com/story/sports/college/ole-miss/2019/12/01/matt-luke-fired-ole-miss-football-coach/4349071002/

Its not such a bad little state, Charlie Brown.

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Only one state’s top colleges all earned FIRE’s highest free speech rating. Mississippi just became the second.

by  FIREDecember 2, 2019

  • Jackson State becomes 6th Mississippi college to earn FIRE’s top rating for free speech
  • University removes ban on any showing of X-rated movies, among other changes

JACKSON, Miss., Dec. 2, 2019 — Jackson State University eliminated or revised all of its speech policies that conflict with the First Amendment, becoming the sixth institution in Mississippi to earn the highest, “green light” rating from the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education. Mississippi is now the second state, after Arizona, to have all of its top universities earn a green light rating from FIRE. Mississippi is also home to more green light schools than any other state except North Carolina. 

Only 51 other colleges and universities around the country earn an overall green light rating in FIRE’s Spotlight database. FIRE rates more than 470 institutions nationwide to determine whether their policies restrict speech that is protected by the Constitution. Almost 90% of colleges maintain policies that restrict and chill protected expression.

“Jackson State has been a tremendous partner in our shared vision that universities should be places where free speech is not only permitted, but actively encouraged,” said FIRE Vice President of Policy Reform Azhar Majeed. “The desire among institutions in Mississippi to promote free speech is a win for students in the Magnolia State and an example for college leaders around the country.”

SEE HOW MUCH FREE SPEECH YOUR ALMA MATER RESTRICTS

Jackson State started working with FIRE in 2016 to revise its policies. Changes included eliminating bans on profanity, updating a student decorum policy prohibiting certain language on clothing, and removing a ban on showing X-rated movies. 

“The university embraces the rights of our students and faculty to express their thoughts and ideas freely,” said Jackson State President Dr. William B. Bynum, Jr. “Our free speech policies are, now, in alignment to show how much we value this right.”

Students at the five other Mississippi institutions rated by FIRE also enjoy the highest rating: Alcorn State University, Delta State University, Mississippi State University, the University of Mississippi, and the University of Southern Mississippi. Three of the universities earned green light ratings earlier this year.

The green light distinction is currently held by only 52 institutions across the country, which have a combined student enrollment of over 1 million. 

Jackson State is the fourth historically black college — along with Mississippi’s Alcorn State, North Carolina Central University, and Fayetteville State University — to earn the rating.

Public universities like Jackson State are legally bound by the First Amendment, while private institutions are bound by promises of free speech found in their official policies.

To learn more about the state of free speech on college campuses around the country, see FIRE’s “Spotlight on Speech Codes 2019” report.

Only one state’s top colleges all earned FIRE’s highest free speech rating. Mississippi just became the second.

This is a 20+ Pound Turkey

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DSCN4553

My relationship with this particular turkey– bless his heart– began last Friday, one week ago.

Mr. Big Food had asked me to go to Kroger and procure a $0.78 / pound turkey of approximately 15-16-20 pounds. And so I did. Eventually. After some thought, we opted for the 20.25 pound bird, as opposed to the much smaller 16.75 one.

I am here to tell you, as “Smoked Turkey Gumbo Friday” winds to a close, that those extra 3 1/2 pounds do make a difference.

The bird was frozen when he arrived at the Farm. He went straight into a roaster which was put– on account of space considerations– into the fridge in the Bunkhouse. (Thus began the week-long rearranging of fridge/freezer contents that continues on as I write at ~9:15pm on Friday as Kat & the Successful Deer Hunter are finding room for the deer meat in my freezer.)

DSCN4546

It took me a while to finally get the Thanksgiving day table looking the way I wanted it to look. Daughter C was very critical– and rightly so– of earlier iterations.

DSCN4531

Speaking of Daughter C… . Here’s the snack spread that welcomed C, Jordan, and that Long-Haired Hippy Dog.

DSCN4537It was not unlike– in fact it was identical to– the one which welcomed Kat & Tony!

Here’s the point– and yes! there are more photos of how to have an elegant Thanksgiving (where the df of “elegant” is always up for grabs, and was, in fact, talked about yesterday)– I am having a wonderful Thanksgiving Day weekend with my family.

I hope you are, too.

Here’s to Stanley Miles!!

Thanksgiving Turkey

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Thanksgiving Turkey
“Catching the Turkey” Grandma Moses 1940

More in the “Catching the Turkey” series here. 

Though I know little about Grandma Moses, primitivism, or art, I am a fan of Anna Mary Robertson, and enjoy looking at her work.

“A Blizzard” 1956


The Children’s Corner

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November 27, 2019. Originally posted some time ago. Enjoy!

  • Pilgrims
  • and Indians
Bountiful

As you can see, Daughter C outdid herself. Lovely, don’t you think? The weather is forecast to be very Thanksgivingy– Southern Country Mouse-wise. One or two Thanksgiving orphans will join us. Traditional menu, though not sure what Daughter C and The J-Man are bringing. Table is set. Well. Okay. Underneath all of the dishes & such I pulled out for last Sunday’s brunch that still need to be put away, the table is set. Still need to buy some wine but I’ll get to that in S’ville later today. Still need to peruse some Bradford and Longfellow but they are out & open. 

We’ll eat earlier than usual so as to accommodate the traditional devouring of the feast at the Dining Table, and the Egg Bowl which kicks off at 6:30. This is not a day for feasting in front of the telly. 

I am sad to report that Mr. Big Food has made one very none traditional decision with respect to the menu this weekend. For some reason– and I’m not entirely sure there was a legitimate reason– we had gumbo last week. I wondered about it at the time but said nothing. And so, we will not be having Turkey Gumbo on the Friday after Thanksgiving. Instead we’ll have Turkey Sopa I (that’s Roman numeral 1, indicating that Mr. Big Food has more than one turkey sopa recipe in The Big Food Manual and Survivalist Flourishing Guide) with Ro*tel Green Beans. 

Other than that minor aberration, it should all be very Traditional. 

Tradition

Supposed to be chilly over night so as is our Tradition, Daughter C & The J-Man will light a fire next to the Children’s Corner and we will– hopefully– watch State beat Ole Miss in Oxford as we eat pie.

Here’s hoping that you’re well on you way to a Traditional Thanksgiving weekend (unless of course if you used to live in Paradise, in which case we wish all y’all the best).