June and July Randoms

[wawa]

Jun 27, 2023 8:20:25 GMT -5 shauni27 said:

Jun 26, 2023 15:59:25 GMT -5 wawa said:

Does anybody else quietly keep score when contributing to potlucks?  Like whoever's food just GOES clearly wins potluck, right?  Is this weird?
(last one I went to I was in charge of the hot dogs and hamburgers so that wasn't exciting. person who brought mac n' cheese won potluck that time.  I think every single person took some and the pan was empty halfway through the first wave)

How do you decide how much food to bring?  what's your math on servings?

I came in here with something else entirely to say and totally forgot what the heck it was.  so instead you get potluck musings. 

we went to a potluck this weekend and there was an amazing tomato salad that I declared the winner of the potluck. It was gone in like 30 minutes. SO good.

but did you get the recipe?  tomato time approacheth

[heygrey]

Jun 26, 2023 15:59:25 GMT -5 wawa said:

Does anybody else quietly keep score when contributing to potlucks?  Like whoever's food just GOES clearly wins potluck, right?  Is this weird?
(last one I went to I was in charge of the hot dogs and hamburgers so that wasn't exciting. person who brought mac n' cheese won potluck that time.  I think every single person took some and the pan was empty halfway through the first wave)

How do you decide how much food to bring?  what's your math on servings?

I came in here with something else entirely to say and totally forgot what the heck it was.  so instead you get potluck musings. 

What is the point of a potluck if not to judge other people’s food?

I will make enough for each person to have a serving plus a little extra if it’s something that makes good leftovers. Except when I make bourbon peach baked beans. Last time I made a triple batch for ~25 people and there were barely any left.

[StrawberryBlondie]

Jun 26, 2023 15:59:25 GMT -5 wawa said:

Does anybody else quietly keep score when contributing to potlucks?  Like whoever's food just GOES clearly wins potluck, right?  Is this weird?
(last one I went to I was in charge of the hot dogs and hamburgers so that wasn't exciting. person who brought mac n' cheese won potluck that time.  I think every single person took some and the pan was empty halfway through the first wave)

How do you decide how much food to bring?  what's your math on servings?

I came in here with something else entirely to say and totally forgot what the heck it was.  so instead you get potluck musings. 

Yes, and it's always my goal to win. 😉

[wawa]

Jun 27, 2023 8:55:15 GMT -5 heygrey said:

Jun 26, 2023 15:59:25 GMT -5 wawa said:

Does anybody else quietly keep score when contributing to potlucks?  Like whoever's food just GOES clearly wins potluck, right?  Is this weird?
(last one I went to I was in charge of the hot dogs and hamburgers so that wasn't exciting. person who brought mac n' cheese won potluck that time.  I think every single person took some and the pan was empty halfway through the first wave)

How do you decide how much food to bring?  what's your math on servings?

I came in here with something else entirely to say and totally forgot what the heck it was.  so instead you get potluck musings. 

What is the point of a potluck if not to judge other people’s food?

I will make enough for each person to have a serving plus a little extra if it’s something that makes good leftovers. Except when I make bourbon peach baked beans. Last time I made a triple batch for ~25 people and there were barely any left.

what if it's for a BIG event?  Like 80+   people?  you're not making 100 servings of baked beans? or are you?

[mrsd2006]

Jun 27, 2023 8:55:15 GMT -5 heygrey said:

Jun 26, 2023 15:59:25 GMT -5 wawa said:

Does anybody else quietly keep score when contributing to potlucks?  Like whoever's food just GOES clearly wins potluck, right?  Is this weird?
(last one I went to I was in charge of the hot dogs and hamburgers so that wasn't exciting. person who brought mac n' cheese won potluck that time.  I think every single person took some and the pan was empty halfway through the first wave)

How do you decide how much food to bring?  what's your math on servings?

I came in here with something else entirely to say and totally forgot what the heck it was.  so instead you get potluck musings. 

What is the point of a potluck if not to judge other people’s food?

I will make enough for each person to have a serving plus a little extra if it’s something that makes good leftovers. Except when I make bourbon peach baked beans. Last time I made a triple batch for ~25 people and there were barely any left.

Care to share this magical bean recipe?

[shauni27]

Jun 27, 2023 8:40:52 GMT -5 wawa said:

Jun 27, 2023 8:20:25 GMT -5 shauni27 said:

we went to a potluck this weekend and there was an amazing tomato salad that I declared the winner of the potluck. It was gone in like 30 minutes. SO good.

but did you get the recipe?  tomato time approacheth

I never figured out who made it!

It had orange and red tomatoes cubed so perfectly, fresh mozzarella squares, basil. I think it had a touch of white balsamic and salt and that is it, but it was the ratios and the way it was made that was just so good.

[heygrey]

Jun 27, 2023 9:51:39 GMT -5 mrsd2006 said:

Jun 27, 2023 8:55:15 GMT -5 heygrey said:

What is the point of a potluck if not to judge other people’s food?

I will make enough for each person to have a serving plus a little extra if it’s something that makes good leftovers. Except when I make bourbon peach baked beans. Last time I made a triple batch for ~25 people and there were barely any left.

Care to share this magical bean recipe?

www.halfbakedharvest.com/bourbon-peach-bbq-baked-beans/

This is the recipe I started with, but I’ve made modifications over time.

[ally]

Vespasia,  Tour de France: Unchained was great.  DH and I were at the Tour for 5 stages last year, including Alpe D'Huez, and it was cool to see some things again, as well as stuff we certainly missed with travel.  I want them to do this every year, with a focus on different teams and riders.

[AJL]

We're going to see MIL and the in-laws over July 4th. BIL and his family are moving to Israel in August so this is their farewell tour. My MIL is losing her mind over it and bringing us all into her drama. At one point she wanted DH to try to talk his brother out of moving. DH was all "Uh, no. He's a grown-ass man who can make decisions for himself with his family."

Sure, I get it. Israel is far away and there are obvious security concerns but where they're moving to is pretty safe. In fact, the country is generally safe unless you live near Gaza or the West Bank. But, damn, if MIL doesn't try to bring all the rest of us into her schtick about how she'll never see her family again.

🙄 She's not poor (quite the opposite). She's in great health. It's not like visiting overseas means having to take a month long ocean liner trip. Just hop on a plane, take an Ambien, and you're there before you know it.

I'm so not looking forward to dealing with her BS. Her behavior is so self-centered and she can't be happy for anyone unless it’s benefiting her. Just thinking about it last night put me in such a mood. I hate dealing with her BS. I don’t think I’d lose much sleep if I never had to visit her again. I know that's not very nice, but I just can't muster the energy for her any more. I've put in 18 years. I'm ready to retire from that relationship. lol!

And then to add injury to anxiety, I stepped on a piece of glass last night and my foot is really sore today. And I’m whiny about it, too.

[basilosaurus]

What is this wizardry?

I did self checkout at Uniqlo. You put the items in a bin, and it magically comes up with the list without any scanning. And it was correct! I was buying things like underwear and tank tops, so no rfid tags. How does it work?!

This was at a flagship store and want there when I went last year, so maybe it's a test market?

ETA: I guess is rfid, in the tags somehow. I guess it's finally cheap enough to be worthwhile. It certainly was convenient. Just drop the bunch, wave my card, and go. I read they're starting to roll it out to US markets.

[shauni27]

basilosaurus, that is neat! We are in the future for real.

[cattledogkisses]

I need to vent this somewhere, because it's bananas.

We're moving at the end of the month, and we set up mail forwarding to start on the 19th. Last week we were out of town, so I had the mail held. The mail hold ended, and nothing was delivered. I was concerned, because one of the packages that arrived while we were gone was my medication from the mail order pharmacy.

I talked to the post office this morning. The carrier saw the for sale sign in front of our house, assumed that because we were gone we had already moved out, and decided on their own to start the mail forwarding early. So all of our mail, including my medication, was forwarded to our new house. Except the post office told me that medications can't be forwarded, so they sent it back to the pharmacy. What the actual fuck.

I called the mail order pharmacy, and I'm like, no one is going to believe this. Thankfully they were super helpful and they're going to replace the medication (they also said that medications can be forwarded, so they don't know why the post office said they can't be). The post office better deliver it to the right address this time. H read them the riot act this morning. But OMG, who does that?! "Oh, I know they wanted mail forwarding to start on the 19th, but I'm just going to do it early."

[mrsukyankee]

That is very frustrating, cattledogkisses.

[cattledogkisses]

Post office is still forwarding our mail, even though we told them to stop. I have to go in first thing tomorrow to try to catch them before them return my meds to sender again, and show them the email receipt and says we requested forwarding to start on the 19th. Not that they seem to be listening to anything we're saying. I feel like I'm losing my mind.

I still can't believe that they just assumed we moved out because we were away on vacation, and took it upon themselves to just start forwarding our mail early.

[livinitup]

Jun 26, 2023 15:59:25 GMT -5 wawa said:

Does anybody else quietly keep score when contributing to potlucks?  Like whoever's food just GOES clearly wins potluck, right?  Is this weird?
(last one I went to I was in charge of the hot dogs and hamburgers so that wasn't exciting. person who brought mac n' cheese won potluck that time.  I think every single person took some and the pan was empty halfway through the first wave)

How do you decide how much food to bring?  what's your math on servings?

I came in here with something else entirely to say and totally forgot what the heck it was.  so instead you get potluck musings. 

Oh, for sure, yes. And I get overly invested when a duplicate is competing poorly. Not for store bought, but always for homemade. That’s why I enjoy a few hungry teenagers who arrive late and plow through everything like they never ate food before.

I also play to win.

[rubytue]

Jul 4, 2023 15:13:36 GMT -5 JayhawkGirl said:

Jul 3, 2023 8:18:30 GMT -5 cattledogkisses said:

I need to vent this somewhere, because it's bananas.

We used to use holds for MIL’s mail and her carrier decided to return to sender all her mail once when a hold had just ended and I went a whole week and a half without picking up her mail from its locked box. What a mess. I’m glad you were able to get your meds rescheduled

Our mail is locked box. With informed delivery, I keep an eye on what is coming and we only check it if there is something or it’s been awhile. Like, 2 weeks. Our postman is awesome, so friendly. And he has obviously picked up on this, and delivers most packages, even small mailbox sized ones, to our door. I love him. Sometimes, I fear he will do this. 

cattledogkisses, I hope you get your mail. 

wawa I think about that a lot at potlucks. My office always had a huge one for the holidays, with so much homemade food. And like the last 8 years, everyone has been phoning it in, lots of grocery store trays, etc. it bothers me both as a indicator or morale, and also because R doesn’t bring homemade samosas anymore, and A would make veggie sushi rolls, and, and, and.. we get grocery store trays now. One year, my stuffing won and actual prize 😁

In other news, I have 100% given up on Twitter. I am so sad about losing the community I had there. But it is what that fucker did. But now, Threads… noooooo… no…. Maybe? No. Ahhhh

[StrawberryBlondie]

Pleased to report I won the 4th of July mini potluck. 😉

[wawa]

Jul 5, 2023 20:38:39 GMT -5 rubytue said:

Jul 4, 2023 15:13:36 GMT -5 JayhawkGirl said:

We used to use holds for MIL’s mail and her carrier decided to return to sender all her mail once when a hold had just ended and I went a whole week and a half without picking up her mail from its locked box. What a mess. I’m glad you were able to get your meds rescheduled

Our mail is locked box. With informed delivery, I keep an eye on what is coming and we only check it if there is something or it’s been awhile. Like, 2 weeks. Our postman is awesome, so friendly. And he has obviously picked up on this, and delivers most packages, even small mailbox sized ones, to our door. I love him. Sometimes, I fear he will do this. 

cattledogkisses, I hope you get your mail. 

wawa I think about that a lot at potlucks. My office always had a huge one for the holidays, with so much homemade food. And like the last 8 years, everyone has been phoning it in, lots of grocery store trays, etc. it bothers me both as a indicator or morale, and also because R doesn’t bring homemade samosas anymore, and A would make veggie sushi rolls, and, and, and.. we get grocery store trays now. One year, my stuffing won and actual prize 😁

In other news, I have 100% given up on Twitter. I am so sad about losing the community I had there. But it is what that fucker did. But now, Threads… noooooo… no…. Maybe? No. Ahhhh

My cheesecake won a prize once!
And the one year one of my black coworkers told me I put my foot in my cornbread stuffing and once I understand what that meant I was very proud of myself. Especially since it was the only one of three kinds of stuffing that was totally gone. Lol. My two biggest potluck triumphs to date.

[basilosaurus]

The radio station just said "bringing you the oldies" and then played Rick Astley. Lolsob

I got Rick rolled at a Turkish restaurant in Malaysia. Can't make this up

[tiramisu]

I also get a bit competitive about potlucks. I was thrilled to see that the dessert I contributed to the potluck last week was completely gone and several people told me they recognized my handwriting labeling what it was so immediately grabbed one. Apparently my reputation for desserts is pretty good!

The disrespect re: Rick Astley being considered oldies!

I have been fascinated by the missing/not missing young man who was discovered after 8 years. I want to know more, but also expect that there will be terrible details it's better we don't know.

[AJL]

it is 91 inside our house. Last night our A/C decided it was not going to pull its weight around here and just give up. Good news is that it’s still under warranty. Bad news is that the repair guy can’t come out until tomorrow morning. So we’re making do with cold showers, lots of ice water, and box fans galore.

[sonrisa]

For shared food events, I bring "slow burn" foods that gain traction rather than broader appeal choices. I never strive for the most first round servings. I go for the most repeat customers. First time past the counter, people grab things based upon what they think it'll be like. Second time they go for what was fantastic round one, or someone else recommended (that they didn't grab round one). I want to bring the dish people approach sideways to sneak thirds from.

[sunnysally]

I used to have a lot of Indian coworkers and brought chana masala to a potluck because I noticed they didn't eat a lot of things other people brought. An Indian coworker, who was BEC with me, also brought chana masala and said hers was better because she is Indian. Well, mine was totally gone and the majority of hers was leftover. This was probably 10 years ago and it still brings me pride.