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The Sad Bastard Cookbook

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Re: The Sad Bastard Cookbook

#361

Post by kragen »

random_upvoter wrote: post #100

Any non-wealthy single person faces an uphill battle to both 1. earn a living 2. take proper care of themselves. In the Middle Ages people invented a rather neat solution for this problem: go live together in a big building, work together, pray together, cook together and call it a monastery.

monasteries were already at least a millennium old when the middle ages started, maybe several millennia old; a pilgrimage to a monastery is central to the plot of the ramayana, which depicted its events as impossibly ancient when it was written, at least 900 years before the middle ages. in particular, the kingdom where it began did historically exist but was conquered 1000 years before the middle ages; the ramayana doesn't bother to mention the kingdom that conquered it

all of these events predate the wide adoption of writing in the region, which makes it hard to tell how old the traditions described in the oldest sources are, though vedic scholars make arguments from internal features of the text

also it is common into deep prehistory for non-wealthy people to live with their parents as long as they are single; that's what most people do here, for example. no monastery needed

Re: The Sad Bastard Cookbook

#362

Post by fragmede »

kragen wrote: post #355
doix wrote: post #319

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm now staying in a condo in Bangkok that is like that. Even if I wanted to cook, it would be extremely inconvenient. There's just enough tabletop area for one of the following: coffee machine, rice cooker, portable stove, dish rack. I keep the coffee maker there permanently. There is also a huge disconnect between prices in supermarkets and takeaway food. It's cheaper to order food than to try and cook it, at least…

where do the takeaway food places buy their supplies i have a couple of 1000-watt immersion heaters that can boil water in a coffee mug or, more relevantly, a one-liter thermos. they cost about 30 cents. the thermos doesn't have to be on a tabletop, though it's dangerous to touch it while it's plugged in because the water is electrically connected i don't want to claim that boil-in-bag cooking isn't 'extremely inconv…

Since the food vendors are buying for a whole week or months worth of them selling only that, they get a bulk discount and have a personal relationship with their supplier, which is to say, fewer middlemen.

If the best food in your life was $3 for a whole meal and available fresh right outside your door step, sure, you could go to the store, buy ingredients, prepare them, cook them, eat them, and then clean up. But at that kind of price point and accessibility, you can see how it would be considered a luxury to be able to do that vs buying street food.

If you've never been so depressed that cleaning the rice cooker bowl is too much work, count yourself lucky.

Re: The Sad Bastard Cookbook

#363

Post by teddyh »

ChiperSoft wrote: post #313
ASNRAlpha wrote: post #300

Earlier quoted context omitted.

These power structures have existed for millennia, so this abstracted idea that women wanting to step out of their traditional gender roles ONLY in the last century is a bit arbitrary. It makes much more sense that because the ruling class wanted a bigger work force they sanctioned for (or at the very least turn a blind eye) women’s role in the work force.

Exactly two millennia. The role of housewife didn’t really exist until the 1820s, and even then it was more of an upper-middle class thing and a distinctly American concept. It didn’t even really take off until the industrial revolution when factory jobs became more mainstream. It was also created by corporations, largely to sell magazines, cookbooks, and home appliances. Everywhere else in the world, especially outs…

That’s two centuries, not millennia.

Re: The Sad Bastard Cookbook

#364

Post by kragen »

fragmede wrote: post #362
kragen wrote: post #355

Earlier quoted context omitted.

where do the takeaway food places buy their supplies i have a couple of 1000-watt immersion heaters that can boil water in a coffee mug or, more relevantly, a one-liter thermos. they cost about 30 cents. the thermos doesn't have to be on a tabletop, though it's dangerous to touch it while it's plugged in because the water is electrically connected i don't want to claim that boil-in-bag cooking isn't 'extremely inconv…

Since the food vendors are buying for a whole week or months worth of them selling only that, they get a bulk discount and have a personal relationship with their supplier, which is to say, fewer middlemen. If the best food in your life was $3 for a whole meal and available fresh right outside your door step, sure, you could go to the store, buy ingredients, prepare them, cook them, eat them, and then clean up. But a…

3 dollars is pretty expensive for meal ingredients even in the usa, let alone where i live. that's like 10 or 20 meals actually

when i was depressed i found out you can cook rice in a rice cooker bowl without cleaning it first

Re: The Sad Bastard Cookbook

#365

Post by Scoundreller »

TeMPOraL wrote: post #224
cinntaile wrote: post #200

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If I want squeaky-clean glasses, I clean them by hand so I can't say that I relate to your experience. Perhaps the dishwashing detergent that you use contains different chemicals.

Might also be because people misuse the dishwasher a lot - by overloading the machine past capacity, and then running an underpowered (or "eco") program. All those other programs are on the dishwasher for a reason, and it's not to trick the user into wasting more water.

Another mistake is thinking the 1h cycle is the most efficient. It is not. Uses more water and electricity than a normal cycle.

Re: The Sad Bastard Cookbook

#366

Post by apomekhanes »

hutzlibu wrote: post #146
random_upvoter wrote: post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sure such systems tend to end up getting corrupt if they amass too much power. That was not my point. I guess my point was that given the bleak state of today's social landscape, I wonder if there's opportunity for some kind of renaissance of communal living, in one form or another. And maybe these monasteries didn't only exist because of fervent religiosity but also as a practical way for single men and women to hav…

"I wonder if there's opportunity for some kind of renaissance of communal living, in one form or another." Sure and it is happening since a while, take a look here for example: https://www.ic.org/ So far most of the projects are rather in dreamland than in reality, but some are well established and working. edit: you will also find actual monasterys there if that is your thing

Very interesting - hadn't come across this before, thanks!

Re: The Sad Bastard Cookbook

#367

Post by tiffanyg »

Ekaros wrote: post #104
random_upvoter wrote: post #100

Any non-wealthy single person faces an uphill battle to both 1. earn a living 2. take proper care of themselves. In the Middle Ages people invented a rather neat solution for this problem: go live together in a big building, work together, pray together, cook together and call it a monastery.

Then guilt trip others to donate to you money and their inheritance and end up filthy rich... Still doing the same... Kinda weird end result... Who did profit anyway, apart from upper management.

It's all just one giant pyramid scheme anyway...

https://youtu.be/z-iWe4qXUD8?t=7s

Funny how "Holy Grail" is woven through with it ... so many scenes of "kissing up and kicking down":

And how'd you get that, eh? By exploiting the workers! By 'angin on to outdated imperialist dogma which perpetuates the economic and social differences... (just as apt / relevant for the above linked scene)

And, as has been proven repeatedly EVERY SINGLE time it is tested, what "trickles down" ain't "wealth".

What a racket this whole universe is! This God fella's got some 'splainin to do... XD

Re: The Sad Bastard Cookbook

#368

Post by flyinghamster »

jjudge wrote: post #331
flyinghamster wrote: post #250

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I haven't ordered a pizza in 3+ years. Even building a pizza up from a prepared crust is way better than frozen. My mother needs gluten-free, and there was a GF frozen pizza we liked that a local store carried. But then it disappeared, and I decided to try building my own from a GF crust. The home-built pizza was so much better that there's no going back - not to mention the opportunity to try different toppings.

My wife and one of my daughters have a gluten allergy (celiac) — would love to see your GF pizza crust recipe that you’ve perfected, if possible.

I was using a prepared crust (Schär) for my home-builts - and I would heartily recommend it if you're not up to making one from scratch.

Re: The Sad Bastard Cookbook

#369

Post by ghaff »

rafabulsing wrote: post #353
ghaff wrote: post #289

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree with all that. I'll eat leftovers. For somethings they're great like a big pot of chili. For some things they're awful. For others, it's somewhere in between and/or some leftovers can be incorporated into a new dish. Cooking a company meal can be an all-day affair but, especially when I was commuting into an office every day, I had a fairly standard set of recipes that I could whip up in very little time and…

I call this the Reheating Coefficient: how good does something taste when reheated compared to how good it did originally? Stews can sometimes achieve even >1 RC. I find lasagna is really good as well. And then you have stuff like fries which start out pretty great and lose all appeal the second they hit room temperature, never to recover.

Stews and soups are pretty good in general--although I tend to like reheating stews with big chunks of meat less than something like a chili. I agree on lasagna. I always make one using three bread pans, freeze 2, and eat the third over 2 or 3 days.

I'm annoyed at my local BBQ place. They changed their menu around a couple of months ago and now fries are automatically included as a side which doesn't fit well with bringing the takeout home and eating it in a couple hours.

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