Re: Implanting Bill Gates's Micro-chips In Brains For Over 20 Years!
 

When I ate pasta, I recall the fresh made stuff was next level, not even comparable to store bought.

Was supposed to go to Italy just as Covid hit (kinda glad I missed that variant, which wiped out whole towns there). So haven't experienced the fish there, but everyone who has says the same thing as you. I think I could live on Branzino and sauteed (not breaded) calamari alone. It's almost sinful the way American cuisine assumes calamari (and sometimes even octopus... though I feel guilty eating those since we're learning how smart they are) require breading. Or that shrimp is a delicacy which must be on menus, while calamari is an also-ran than only sometimes qualifies. Calamari sauteed in fresh garlic, extra virgin olive oil, bit of salt and pepper, and lemon, is one of the best foods in the world.

Re: Implanting Bill Gates's Micro-chips In Brains For Over 20 Years!
 

I stopped regularly eating red meat a month ago and have noticed I feel a bit less groggy and sluggish in the AM. Usually ate fish four nights a week, but now moved it up to every night. Better sleep, I think. Doesn't tax the system as much.

But there'll definitely be a sunset on this, as I'm running out of recipes with which to experiment. And chicken and turkey are painfully dull foods.

Re: Implanting Bill Gates's Micro-chips In Brains For Over 20 Years!
 

The best place I've been in the US for calamari is Rhode Island. If you ever are in the neighborhood, find the most Italian or Portuguese looking dive you can, head out of Providence or Newport, where most people go, to places like Warwick or North Providence, go in, and order any dish with Calamari other than the Rhode Island Calamari (breaded, greasy, spicy - it's good, but it's not what you are looking for). Or check out the poofy, upscale places in Providence that do coconut calamari or eastern calamari. But really, the whole state is calamari crazy.

Re: Implanting Bill Gates's Micro-chips In Brains For Over 20 Years!
 

Counterpoint: Sushi.

Yeah, I do sashimi a fair amount. But it's not as good. And the rice has to be right. Fuck up the rice and the sushi's for shit.

Re: Implanting Bill Gates's Micro-chips In Brains For Over 20 Years!
 

I haven't been to Newport in like two decades. Been angling to go there (wife's never been), but it's a long haul. This might compel me to make the effort.

Best calamari I had was from an Italian deli near the Village. Damned if I can recall the name. It was perfect. Never tough, and the garlic was sweet. I'd get a 20 oz container and down it in the car. Probably not great for one's cholestrol.

Re: Implanting Bill Gates's Micro-chips In Brains For Over 20 Years!
 

It's summer. Just grill the fish and put sauces on it. There are endless sauces and endless varieties of fish to grill.

Re: Implanting Bill Gates's Micro-chips In Brains For Over 20 Years!
 

I have been. Cycling through Mexican flavoring, then traditional (capers and lemon), and varieties with tomatoes and diced onions. Or just baking it in French butter with the sauce from the capers (that brine can season almost anything well).

Oddly, I've not had much interest in tuna steaks. I think I overdid that and can't go there anymore. Which is good, as they're $40 a pound.

Perfect lunch combination that works: Chilled poached salmon smeared with lemon butter with a side of tzatziki. (Good real tzatziki... avoid the stuff into which they sneak sour cream).

ETA: Catfish in french butter and cajun seasoning with a dash of, yes, you're reading the name correctly. That sauce is fantastic on almost everything.

Re: Implanting Bill Gates's Micro-chips In Brains For Over 20 Years!
 

Same thing and couldn't sleep after eating but it wasn't just red, it was chicken and fish also. Stopped all meat for a short time and realized I didn't need it, never went back.

Re: Implanting Bill Gates's Micro-chips In Brains For Over 20 Years!
 

Please don’t get Hank started on sushi rice ….

Re: Implanting Bill Gates's Micro-chips In Brains For Over 20 Years!
 

I feel like I've stepped into one of the classic Buddhist stories, where all the educated civilized people are talking of the benefits of vegetarianism while some lower class types stuff their face with barbequed pork, smiling broadly.

Re: Implanting Bill Gates's Micro-chips In Brains For Over 20 Years!
 

I almost exclusively do sashimi. If I have nigiri or handrolls, I only eat about half the rice, and is only to soak up the sake/shochu.

And calamari is a joke as bad as tofu. It is flavorless, but for whatever you cook it with.

Re: Implanting Bill Gates's Micro-chips In Brains For Over 20 Years!
 

Serious question, do you still have your real teeth? Texture is a thing.

Re: Implanting Bill Gates's Micro-chips In Brains For Over 20 Years!
 

A few years back I found my mom's first cousin on Facebook. My g-rents died young and we lost touch with all her relatives. The guy still has his family's home in Calabria, in the tiny village of Caulonia, on the Ionian Sea. Dinner were mostly him* or friends cooking. Each morning I'd wake to the fish monger driving along the one road that snaked through town "Pesche! Pesche!" We'd go down and buy what looked best. The dishes were wonderful and, bonus, they were family recipes from my great grandma. But then one night he made tuna pasta. Now I was confused because the fish monger had fresh tuna that morning, it is plentiful in the Ionian, but we hadn't bought any. This I-tie takes out a CAN of tuna fish and sautes it with tons of garlic and peppers. It is something we make to this day. I love it, but cannot get an answer why they don't use fresh tuna? Calabrese? Testa dura.


*He owns a Calabrese restaurant in Adelaide and goes to Caulonia for July and August. It is the only Calabrese restaurant I have ever found outside Calabria. Yes there are some "Calabria Pizza" restaurants near you; me too, the closest sells Chicago style zas. And no, the "Calabrian _____" pasta at your local is not Calabrese food likely. Mostly that just means they stick lots of peppers in it.

Re: Implanting Bill Gates's Micro-chips In Brains For Over 20 Years!
 

You can tell Less has never had sushi from a spot with an Itamae. Sad.

Re: Implanting Bill Gates's Micro-chips In Brains For Over 20 Years!
 

If you get good sushi, the rice is not of significant bulk. But it has a sweet taste that complements the fish. Idk why the fuck it works, but it does.

Lobster, shrimp, yes - lousy flavor. Crab? Interesting. But it gets rich, and dull, quickly.

Calamari and scallops have unique flavors. Subtle, but excellent. Like raw oysters or clams.

Re: Implanting Bill Gates's Micro-chips In Brains For Over 20 Years!
 

The sole use for pork is chutney delivery.

Re: Implanting Bill Gates's Micro-chips In Brains For Over 20 Years!
 

I’ve never tried to make a dish with canned fish. But I eat it all the time. Patagonia makes tasty mussels in a few sauces, and various brands of smoked oysters and clams in olive oil are excellent. You can also get varieties of octopus in tins, and it’s good. But that animal is too smart to eat from a tin. Seems wrong.

Re: Implanting Bill Gates's Micro-chips In Brains For Over 20 Years!
 

Perhaps oddly, I am a canned tuna fan and get this. There is a completely different taste between fresh and canned tuna, it's like they are different fish.

I want a fish monger going down the street selling fresh seafood. It could be done where we go in the summer, one of Mass's big fish ports (where the largest industry outside fishing is... making fishsticks. World capital of fishsticks).

Re: Implanting Bill Gates's Micro-chips In Brains For Over 20 Years!
 

One of my summer projects is going to be getting smoking oysters and other shellfish down. I like a lot of the smoked oysters, clams, scallops, etc., but they are even better fresh smoked.

Re: Implanting Bill Gates's Micro-chips In Brains For Over 20 Years!
 

if they ever do Tradle for states I’ll have to remember this.

Re: Implanting Bill Gates's Micro-chips In Brains For Over 20 Years!
 

I rely heavily on agriculture in Tradle, what kind of fish or animal products or plants they grow. Usually gets me to a region in the world pretty quickly, especially with those damn little islands.

Re: Implanting Bill Gates's Micro-chips In Brains For Over 20 Years!
 

Smoked oysters in olive oil over arugula with balsamic vinegar and some lemon juice with those little asian crunchy noodles cracked. Use the olive oil in the tin. It'll be adequate.

Re: Implanting Bill Gates's Micro-chips In Brains For Over 20 Years!
 

I’m still working on grilling. And, like magic, within 30 minutes of reading this post, I received a call from my mother who announced she was sending me this:

https://shop.islandcreekoysters.com/...t-in-the-sauce

That’s good mojo.

Re: Implanting Bill Gates's Micro-chips In Brains For Over 20 Years!
 

Ahh, right. I was still pretty drunk this morning when Penske and I left your mom's place. And we both felt soooo guilty for going behind your back, so I gave her an extra $200 but asked she get something nice for you. Enjoy!



JK Ha ha

Re: Implanting Bill Gates's Micro-chips In Brains For Over 20 Years!
 

My signature line finally comes into play!

Re: Implanting Bill Gates's Micro-chips In Brains For Over 20 Years!
 

Sebby I’m watching a Carlin bio. Very good.

Re: Implanting Bill Gates's Micro-chips In Brains For Over 20 Years!
 

Yup. It's excellent. Apatow did a really good, evenhanded job with it.

I miss him. He was basically like a north star for me as a kid. My folks would be away and we had HBO as soon as it came out. I remember feeling like I was being bullshitted by almost every institution around me. This started, of course, with religion. It was impossible to hear that shit, even as a small kid, and not conclude (Carlin voice), "That's fucking nonsense! The fucking plot doesn't make sense even as fiction!"

But one could never utter that. The devout were all around. I could and did say it to my parents, who'd shrug and remind me that social propriety dictated keeping that sort of opinion quiet. "Be on the team." Of course. Dad got money from the devout. They liked to see the people they worked with in the pews on Sunday.

The assessment most authority is half full of shit, to be generous, only deepened as I got older. The more I looked, the more I understood, Religion is the Grand Exalted Emperor of Bullshit. But it has a very large Court, including almost every institution one is told deserves respect first, scrutiny second.

Carlin stood for the proposition that authority is inherently suspect and probably, inevitably, to some extent, corrupt and interested most in self-preservation. It deserves respect only after proving, despite all those flaws and built in conflicts of interest, it is somehow managing to do the right thing. (And if it didn't have the monopoly on coercive violence [jailing, fining, etc.] it probably wouldn't receive much of any de facto respect at all.)

The notion one should rotate every issue from every angle and examine it fully without bias, and put to scrutiny the aims of every "movement" or institution that seeks power is sadly missing from the debates these days. Instead of smart scrutiny, we've conspiracy theorists, eager to "believe" contra positions rather than carefully assess anything.

Carlin was called a nihilist, or a pissed off idealist. Both miss an essentially positive message in the background. This, from an interview with John Stewart in 1997, best encapsulates it:

"People are wonderful. I love individuals. I hate groups of people. I hate a group of people with a 'common purpose'. 'Cause pretty soon they have little hats. And armbands. And fight songs. And a list of people they're going to visit at 3am. So, I dislike and despise groups of people but I love individuals. Every person you look at; you can see the universe in their eyes, if you're really looking."

That's true. It covers about 75% of my world view. And that last phrase is the thing makes life terrifically interesting.

Re: Implanting Bill Gates's Micro-chips In Brains For Over 20 Years!
 

As we are about to descend into the world desired by six people's imaginary sky friend, how are we ever going to evolve to a world in which believing crazy shit is disqualifying for public office, rather than the opposite?

Re: Implanting Bill Gates's Micro-chips In Brains For Over 20 Years!
 

I'm not sure we ever will reach that place. Interconnectedness, and specifically social media, have made it seemingly impossible. Everybody who wants his or her own reality can find "proofs" supporting it. They can "do their own research."

If half the country is willing to risk death because they think vaccines are more dangerous than a virus that is killing people in their midst, do you really think we're ever going to give up radical religiousness?

The truth
 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vPvf5RgCU08

Doesn’t matter, though. Nothing is going to change. It is, candidly, nothing short of embarrassing to be an American at this point in history. We have failed.

Re: The truth
 

The last was not 10 miles from my office. On Facebook I learned my cousin's grandson was in a locked class in the school. The boy's mom is my FB friend. She posted the text exchange between her and the boy. The most horrific part was the lack of surprise from either person.

Re: The truth
 

The country is literally becoming fractured and the legislators captured to the point that it is resembling a developing nation.

Zero sum politics. Newt Gingrich will be the central villain when history writes itself accurately in 200 years. That’s the only path to the Senate’s refusal to pass what 90% of the nation wants.

Re: The truth
 

Have you looked into getting Italian citizenship via jure sanguinis? Might be a nice little option for the kids if they want to get out of here. Full access to the EU.

Re: The truth
 

Here’s the problem: Italians are sexist as all fuck.

The default rule is if your grandparents were citizens of Italy when your parent was born (here) you can get I-tie citizenship. And my mom remembers helping my G-ma (came here in 1928 after the anti Italian immigrant law) study for the citizenship exam, so yes!

But the fucking law does not care about grandmothers. Your grandfather must still have been an Italian citizen when parent born. And he came here in 1922 to make $$$ so he could send for gma. And the law was still friendly to Italians. He basically stepped off the boat and renounced his Italian citizenship to become American (sad face). Mommy born in 1935 to an American father.

Re: The truth
 

Italy is one of many EU countries selling quasi-citizenship - https://www.globalcitizensolutions.c...y-golden-visa/

Re: The truth
 

At least they are honest that the rich can get whatever they want.

Re: The truth
 

Yes and my people have been here too long.

Re: The truth
 

You can buy your way into Italy, Australia, New Zealand, Switzerland and the UK. All expensive as fuck. Bout the only one I can afford is Thailand.

I think the better move is to just go on a visitor visa and never leave. Worked for a friend.

Re: The truth
 

Can we get EU if Less just adopts us?

Re: The truth
 

Why not just do it the old fashioned way, and marry in? I'm sure your wife won't mind, she can do it too.