The Reading Room

Catija

11:00 PM

As a note, that question currently has seven deleted answers...

> i have one now that weighs 7 kgs; its kenspot 1 variety grown in ngata kenya

Rand al'Thor

@Catija Protect?

Catija

@Randal'Thor ? I can't... I'm only 10K on cooking.

Rand al'Thor

@Catija Ah, OK.

You could flag to ask the mods to protect ...

Catija

Meh. They decided to unprotect a question yesterday that was auto-protected because they didn't really think it was necessary... so meh.

user15026

is amused we went from site related ID stuff to potatoes

Catija

11:05 PM

@Ash Now I need to have mashed potatoes for dinner... also, I did bring up a book in the middle.

... tangentially.

Rand al'Thor

22

Q: Short story about a future where people spend all their time in cars

I'm looking for a story where people are always in their cars, which are small, individual-sized, and are considered naked when they are out of them. It's from the late 1960s or early 70s.

Short ID question, yet detailed enough to be uniquely answerable, and those quotes are pretty damn entertaining too.

user15026

@Catija Me too, but I don't think I have any potatoes.

Catija

Me neither.

user15026

I might have boxed mashed potatoes though

Shog9

Oh, I do. Most of 'em are seed potatoes, but I can spare a few...

BESW

11:07 PM

@Catija I think my link to a new collection of poetry went unnoticed too.

Shog9

It's a lovely day, gonna grill some shrimp & asparagus; mashed potatoes would go perfectly

b_jonas

@Randal'Thor Yes, that's short but gives an essential part of the story and one that's rare enough, so it's not a bad story ID question.

user15026

@BESW I'm intrigued, I didn't know about this as a thing, let alone that someone made poetry around it

Rand al'Thor

@b_jonas Which was my main point and what started me off finding these great 14111 answers.

30 mins ago, by Rand al'Thor

@Ash On the flip side, a lot of ID questions which seem to be lacking in detail are actually perfectly answerable.

Shog9

ID question: gigantic cookbook from the early 1900s that went on to have numerous revisions over the next century

full of engravings or... maybe woodcuts, I forget

Rand al'Thor

11:10 PM

You could post that on the main site. Didn't we decide that cookbooks are on-topic?

:-P

Catija

Joy of Cooking?

user15026

@Shog9 Joy of Cooking was the 30's, so you're likely looking for something earlier than that

Shog9

I could just call my sister who owns it too

b_jonas

But user14111 also answers story-id questions that I think are bad ones.

Rand al'Thor

@b_jonas Oh, I downvoted some of the ones I've been linking to in here.

user15026

11:11 PM

My next thought is Mrs. Beeton's, but that's late 1800s, I tihnk

Rand al'Thor

Downvoted and voted to reopen, in at least one case.

BESW

@Shog9 Ukraine 1933 is probably not what you're thinking of, but fascinating nonetheless.

b_jonas

@Randal'Thor That reminds me to how in the story, Matilda learned to read from a cookbook

BESW

@Ash Nobody knowing about it seems to be one of the major themes of the poetry!

Shog9

@BESW definitely not, but what a lovely book

user15026

11:12 PM

@BESW I am going to have to try to find this, I think.

Catija

vintagecookbooks.healthyeatingandlifestyle.org/books/…

Shog9

> Maple leaves were dried in the stove or in the sun, crushed, put through a sieve, mixed with water into dough from which flat-cakes were made. Bark was dried, crushed, put through a sieve, mixed with flour and water and made into flatcakes.

grim.

b_jonas

Should I post an immediately self-answered question on Sci-Fi about that story-id about the hypnotizing girl?

Shog9

PSA: you can get sassafras root on Amazon. Makes excellent tea

Catija

@b_jonas By that you mean blog overflow? Or post question, write answer, post answer?

@Shog9 nice list of early 1900s cookbooks here: vintagecookbooks.healthyeatingandlifestyle.org/1900-19.html

b_jonas

11:14 PM

@Catija Not on blog. Question and answer on the main site. And I probably shouldn't.

Catija

@b_jonas "blog overflow" means self answered at the same time it's asked. So you click the box that says "answer this question" before you submit the question to the site.

b_jonas

@Catija wait what?

why does it mean that?

user15026

I'm reading Inside Out and Back Again right now - it feels like it might be intentionally written in a free verse sort of style, but I don't know if it's been translated or anything which might also influence that

b_jonas

isn't blog overflow the collection of old blog sites that SE managed?

user15026

@Catija to me, blog overflow means one of the old site blogs

user15026

11:16 PM

not self-answering

Catija

@b_jonas I don't know where it comes from... that's just what everyone calls it who I've talked to.

user15026

Weiiiiird, I've never heard self answering referred to liek that

b_jonas

I mean, it was under the domain blogoverflow.com

Rand al'Thor

@b_jonas Yes. But some people also use the term, metaphorically and often disparagingly, to refer to the practice of self-answering.

b_jonas

Ok.

Shog9

11:17 PM

@Catija oh, cool...

Catija

Dunno... it's what it's been called on M&TV... that's where I picked it up.

Rand al'Thor

Yeah, I remember Napoleon using the term that way.

BESW

Shog9

> COCOA RICE MERINGUE -Heat one pint of milk, add
one-quarter cup of washed rice and a saltspoon of salt. Cook until
tender. Add one level tablespoon of butter, one-half cup of
seeded raisins, half a teaspoon of vanilla, and one slightly
rounding tablespoon of cocoa, cook five minutes. Fold in the
stiffly beaten whites of two eggs and one-half cup of beaten
cream. Turn into a buttered baking dish, cover with the whites
of three eggs beaten stiff, with one-third cup of powdered sugar
and a level tablespoon of cocoa. Set in a moderate oven for a few minutes until the meringue is cooked.

b_jonas

Man, I wish I could get access to more Pratchett books in original somehow.

Shog9

11:21 PM

as opposed to...?

b_jonas

I should especially try to get the other two of the Johnny Maxwell trilogy, because I find youth books are the best.

Catija

@b_jonas What do you mean by "in original"?

BESW

@Shog9 Hmm, I think I could easily make that vegan.

b_jonas

@Catija In original English, as opposed to translated to Hungarian or any other language.

Catija

@BESW Do you use aquafaba for meringues?

Shog9

11:22 PM

@BESW without milk butter or eggs?

BESW

@Catija If I ever made a meringue, I would use aquafaba.

Catija

@b_jonas Is it difficult to get English language books?

Rand al'Thor

b_jonas

@Catija Yes, except for some very popular ones like Harry Potter. Pratchett is not too easy to get even in translation, mind you.

Shog9

There's a post on SA somewhere where someone - Aaronut maybe? - tries to get an eggless ganache to work. Quite an ordeal.

BESW

11:23 PM

@Shog9 Almond milk, vegetable oil spread, and aquafaba.

Rand al'Thor

@b_jonas Which one did you read?

BESW

@Shog9 Did they try aquafaba?

user15026

Speaking of potatoes, or the lack thereof....

b_jonas

@Randal'Thor Johnny and the Bomb, and I just borrowed it to re-read.

Shog9

@BESW I don't think I've ever seen that word before, so... Guessing no.

user15026

11:24 PM

(I love that entire blog.)

Catija

@BESW Aquafaba only replaces egg whites... that uses some whole eggs, too.

Shog9

(unless it's a synonym for guar gum)

Catija

@Shog9 It's the water that chick peas were in the can in.

user15026

@Shog9 ganache? Eggs? Isn't it just hot cream and chocolate?

Catija

.... it's chick pea water.

Rand al'Thor

11:25 PM

@b_jonas Ah. I read Johnny and the Dead.

BESW

@Shog9 It's the ridiculously pretentious but currently most popular term for the thick water you drain out of a can of beans, like garbanzos or black beans.

Catija

@BESW Ok, so I'm not the only person who finds the term to be absurd?

Rand al'Thor

Speaking of Pratchett ... @BESW, did you ever find out anything about the Pasifika (sp?) reaction to Nation, or get hold of the book yourself to try it?

BESW

Pretty much anything that uses egg whites can use aquafaba instead. So unless you really NEED the yolk to make the recipe work...

b_jonas

@Catija Part of the problem is that books were really cheap during the communist regime, and some of that lowered price is still present in new books because people expect books to be cheap, so books from abroad just can't compete, and libraries don't buy them. The other part is of course that more people can read the translations, and most people aren't snobs like me who don't like to read bad translations and prefer to read originals when I'm not sure the translations are good.

BESW

11:25 PM

@Catija I laughed so hard when I first heard it.

Shog9

@Ash found it:

47

A: Could coconut cream be used to create a non-dairy ganache for whipping?

Inspired by rumtscho's incredibly detailed answer, which provided some informative although not quite "marketable" results, I set off on my own set of experiments. They are not quite finished, but I'll update this answer as more gets uncovered. First of all, I decided to start my experiments wi...

mentally indexing posts by author is still my most reliable way of keeping track of anything around here

Catija

@BESW Oh, wait, it doesn't use yolks, never mind.

BESW

@Randal'Thor No, hasn't really been a priority yet.

Shog9

@BESW oooh. Huh, I never figured that was useful for anything, beyond using a bit to thicken stew.

Catija

@Shog9 I don't think I was around when Aaronut was but he seemed quite knowledgeable.

Shog9

11:27 PM

Good to know!

@Catija yeah, he was pretty handy

BESW

@Shog9 I know, right! We don't use eggs often enough to justify buying them, but now every time I crack open a can of beans I get a free egg if I want it.

Catija

@Shog9 Actually, I use it to thin my hummus instead of other liquids... which allows me to cut down the oil content by quite a lot.

BESW

I've also been experimenting with pumpkin puree as a replacement for eggs and oil in baking.

user15026

@Shog9 ah, not eggless, dairyless, that makes more sense.

Shog9

I eat a tremendous number of eggs, so can't see bothering with a substitute. But, could still be fun to play wtih

BESW

11:29 PM

(Nobody in my family is vegan, but vegan cooking is pretty much the center of the Venn diagram of our diets.)

Napoleon Wilson

@Catija Um, maybe now's the time I tell you that I have taken a few days of break in my endeavours to check each and every single new question on the site. ;-)

Catija

@BESW Don't they already suggest applesauce? Which has a less obvious flavor profile...

b_jonas

I should look for these more in some of the bookstores that aren't part of the big franchises though. There are a few of those, and for Pratchett I may have a chance to get them. The problem is that Pratchett books are sold in paperback, which is bad because it means I have to buy them to read. I don't want to buy all of his books. I could probably buy the Johnny Maxwell ones blindly, but not the forty others I haven't read.

BESW

@Catija Pretty much any fruit puree works, but we like pumpkin a lot and canned pumpkin is cheaper out here.

Hamlet

@b_jonas exactly, story-id questions help people discover/recommend books. They don't teach people about the books, which is what we should be doing.

Catija

11:31 PM

Now we sound like we should be The Frying Pan...

@NapoleonWilson Hm. Well, the other members of the site are still perfectly capable of closing crappy questions...

BESW

Eh, I abandoned the Frying Pan years ago for getting mocked whenever I mentioned vegan recipes.

Catija

@BESW You should come back... I don't know who that was but the attitudes in there seem pretty genial to me...

Rand al'Thor

@b_jonas For Pratchett, I'd recommend the Bromeliad trilogy (Truckers, Diggers, Wings) and Nation. All excellent books, in different ways.

user15026

I'm hungry now.

b_jonas

@Randal'Thor I heard Feet of Clay was a good one, so I should look at that one.

Catija

11:32 PM

I should go and close down my work so I can go home and have dinner...

user15026

@Randal'Thor the Bromeliad trilogy (in one giant volume) was the first Pratchett I ever read. Took me years before I learned he did anything else

Rand al'Thor

@Hamlet Again, we shouldn't be too restrictive at this stage. We're Literature SE, not Literary Analysis SE.

user15026

@Randal'Thor Agreed.

BESW

Last week I made brownies from a mix, and substituted pumpkin puree for all the egg, oil, and water the mix wanted me to add. It came out fudgey and amazingly rich.

Rand al'Thor

@BESW I've lurked in the Frying Pan from time to time. It's one of the friendliest rooms I've ever seen on SE.

Also, I assume you're aware of the new Vegetarianism SE?

user15026

11:33 PM

@BESW Did it taste pumpkin-y?

Catija

I think Good Omens was the first I read with his name on it... though it's not all him. I think otherwise I've only read Discworld stuff.

Hamlet

@Randal'Thor I'm not responding to get into a debate, because it's clear we won't agree on this issue. But I'm not trying to turn this site into Literary Analysis SE. I don't know why people think I am. All I'm saying is that questions should teach people things about books. Whether that is literary analysis, a fact based question, a (ugh) question about an author's biography, whatever, it doesn't matter. So long as people learn things. There's nothing to learn from story-id questions.

BESW

@Ash Yes, most excellently so, though some of the people I fed it to didn't think so because they think of pumpkin spice as the taste of pumpkin.

Rand al'Thor

@Catija Discworld isn't his best stuff by a long way, IMHO.

Catija

@BESW Such a sorry misnomer.

Napoleon Wilson

11:35 PM

@Randal'Thor I don't use it disparagingly, though.

Rand al'Thor

@Hamlet Because you seem to criticise every question that isn't literary analysis or high-brow enough for you? :-) Yes, questions should teach people things about books, but you seem to have different standards for what "things" are acceptable to be taught.

user15026

@BESW ah, yes, that's frustrating sometimes.

Rand al'Thor

@NapoleonWilson I know.

user15026

@Hamlet Helping them find books is teaching them something though

Napoleon Wilson

@b_jonas Because you're essentially making a blog post, rather than asking an actual question you want to have answered, I guess.

I learned it on SO and found it a nice term.

Hamlet

11:36 PM

@Ash they teach them about the books exist and that's it.

user15026

@Hamlet shrug And?

BESW

@Randal'Thor Yeah, well. When I first walked into that chat they subjected me to a "jokey" interrogation to determine if I was "acceptable" to them, and every time I mentioned vegetarian or vegan cooking somebody would make "funny" disgusted comments or "joke" about how vegans are so elitist. I got the message.

Hamlet

IDK, that's all I have to say. I've made my argument, people disagree, there's nothing more I can say.

user15026

They had a question, we managed to help. They are happier for it, and maybe some other people are also happy because they also discover a thing.

b_jonas

My favourite is definitely The amazing Maurice and his educated rodents (which has a really rememberable character who is remarkably similar to Arcadia Darell). I've read like eight or so of Discworld before that, and I liked most of them.

I didn't like Thief of Time as much as people praise it. It still wasn't bad, but it was one of the less good ones.

Hamlet

11:37 PM

Never really got into Discworld. They were books I read if I couldn't find something else to read.

Catija

@Hamlet Heck, I'd have to say that the ID question I answered today might have taught a few people about a beautiful film they might like to see...

b_jonas

@BESW :-(

Napoleon Wilson

@Catija Indeed, and I'm really glad the community has learned to help with that a little more.

user15026

I like the Discworld books, there's just so many so I tend to read a few, wander away for a while, and then come back

Rand al'Thor

@Catija @BESW (By the way, I've been meaning to have a word with Himarm about his occasional vegan-bashing memes in Mos. As a vegetarian, I personally feel uncomfortable about them - not sure if that means I should or shouldn't be the one to speak up about them.)

Catija

11:39 PM

@Randal'Thor I know that Ankit has sworn off the room but he's also vegetarian and would probably also appreciate it.

Rand al'Thor

@BESW Ugh. I feel you.

Hamlet

@Randal'Thor you're a vegetarian? I've been trying to become one because it's healthy, but not with much success.

Catija

@BESW Sorry. :(

b_jonas

Bashing because you talk about vegan recipes is not nice. Yes, there are stupid vegans who go about it the wrong way, possibly elitist ones too, but most people who write about vegan recipes aren't.

Napoleon Wilson

Oh, the moment vegan-bashing is the worst thing in Mos Eisley. ;-)

Rand al'Thor

11:41 PM

@Hamlet Ditto. I'm not sure what it is about them, but somehow they feel like "fillers" rather than really interesting books in their own right.

b_jonas

@NapoleonWilson Really? I never noticed it at Mos.

Rand al'Thor

@Hamlet Yep, lifelong vegetarian.

b_jonas

@Randal'Thor What? Even The amazing Maurice?

Napoleon Wilson

@Randal'Thor It makes you even more qualified, since you are offended by them and noone is going to accuse you either of being "offended on someone else's behalf" nor of being one of "those outside people".

b_jonas

Although that one is probably not most people's style.

user15026

11:42 PM

@Randal'Thor I disagree but I also read a lot of romances which are pretty much universally regarded as "filler books" or "trash books" so maybe I suck at judging ;)

Napoleon Wilson

@b_jonas Me neither, but I'm not that much up to current issues there.

Rand al'Thor

@b_jonas I haven't read that, but isn't it non-Discworld Pratchett?

My "filler" comment was only about the Discworld books.

Hamlet

@Randal'Thor I think it's because all the jokes were based on cultural references. For example, a lot of the books are parodies/allegories/IDK what they actually are of a specific countries culture. I remember reading one book about Australia. And all of the jokes were along the lines of: hey look, there's this guy wearing a hat, Australians wear hats, isn't this a clever reference?

b_jonas

@Randal'Thor It's very loosely connected to Discworld.

It's a book geared to young adult, and it does play on Discworld, but you can tell that only from a few places.

Rand al'Thor

@Ash I've only read a few of the Discworld books, so maybe I'm not that qualified to judge.

b_jonas

11:44 PM

@Hamlet The last continent I presume?

Rand al'Thor

@Hamlet Ah. If you're not British, things like Pratchett and Monty Python are probably much harder to appreciate.

user15026

@Randal'Thor I dislike assumptions like that. I mean I know its a culture/style thing, but it's not as gated as people tend to think

b_jonas

@Randal'Thor That's certainly true, there's a lot of English humour in Pratchett books and Douglas Adams that I don't get, but it's not as dense as in Monty Python or Alice.

Hamlet

@b_jonas yeah. But there were a lot of books like that. I think there was one about the central banking system, and it had the exact same style of jokes

BESW

@Randal'Thor I think there's a difference between "I don't get all the cultural references in this work" and "this work makes thoughtless fun of my culture."

b_jonas

11:45 PM

English humor is strange.

user15026

@Hamlet He does tend to write stuff that generally goes "here is a culture/institution, let's take it apart in a humorous way" (for various values of humor)

Rand al'Thor

@BESW I didn't realise we were talking about poking thoughtless fun. I thought @Hamlet was only talking about not getting references.

@Ash Well, I am British, so I don't know :-)

b_jonas

@Randal'Thor It's not the references that are the problem, but the style of English humor. I don't get why some of those jokes are jokes or funny in Monty Python.

BESW

@Randal'Thor See the comment you were responding to.

b_jonas

For the references, there's a lot of good FAQs on lspace.org/books/apf/index.html

Hamlet

11:49 PM

@BESW @Randal'Thor I'm guessing BESW is partly talking about this?

9

Q: What is the Pasifika response to "Nation"?

Pratchett's "Nation" was recommended to me because it depicts an alternate reality version of Pasifika cultures, faiths, and traditions. A quick glance at Wikipedia tells me it's got cannibals and reveals that a Pasifika culture is the forgotten remnant of a culture which was once successful by W...

terry-pratchett nation

Rand al'Thor

@Hamlet I really liked Nation, and recommended it to BESW a few weeks back, which inspired him to post that question.

Hamlet

I didn't think The last continent crossed that line for the record, but it's been a while since I read it, so I might be forgetting things.

BESW

That too. Regardless of the wiki's accuracy about depicting Pacific Islanders as cannibals, there's deep problems with the "fallen civilisation" narrative.

And, you know, it's not just Pratchett. I like Faulty Towers but Manuel is kinda painful to watch sometimes.

Or, you know, disco jokes in America.

Hamlet

@BESW I think the problem with that question is that Pratchet isn't important enough to warrant a response

BESW

@Hamlet How is that a problem with the question?

Hamlet

11:57 PM

@BESW not as in reason to downvote, problem as in there might not be an answer

BESW

If it's possible to demonstrate it's unanswerable, that'll make for an awesome answer in its own right.

I have a hard time believing that none of the Pasifika nerddom hasn't responded to Pratchett's depiction of them though.

Rand al'Thor

Also, I imagine a lot of Pasifika commentary is in places that aren't available online?

So there might be a detailed response to it published somewhere which can't be found by searching the internet.

Hamlet

@BESW in that case...

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