@Stephie wow... You are lucky enough to see these moment in real. I have only seen these scenaries in movies.

Good morning!

Szia!

@Stephie I think you are a native english speaker

isn't it?

Nope. I'm German. Born and bred.

ohh. ookay

how old are you?

Oh, you don't ask a lady for her age, right? ^_^

Let it suffice that I'm younger than jojo but older than rumi.

And I have two kids, age 7 & 10.

No grey hair yet (but in blondes, it's hard to tell anyway), but a few wrinkles here and there. Curtesy of the kids, I guess.

I think you and Jolenealaska may also in your same age range

As I said - I'm a few years younger than her. But looking at the greater picture, yes, perhaps.

but for me, I see you all as same age range :D

You are quite young, right?

:) 22

Ah... ;-)

Have to go, I have a few loads of laundry and other travel paraphernalia that needs my attention.

see ya

morning all

Mornin Hon!

brb summoning dragon

o/

Back. So how are you today?

not bad, not bad

The short conversation above is kind of cute. Regarding Stephie's age

I have made 2 batches of macarons in the last 2 nights and they have all cracked

ಥ_ಥ

I think I've narrowed it down to the, believe it or not, the baking paper

Doesn't that suck! I've given up on macarons for now. The paper?

apparently if it's greaseproof it can cause the bases to stick before it releases. So the base sticks as the top rises, and makes it buckle

I have bought foil-backed baking parchment for tonight's attempt

Have you see my picture of that stuff?

of foil-backed baking parchment?

Yes, it was a nightmare of mine.

It has a terrible tendency to roll.

meh

I can't find it right now but I'm sure I showed it to you. It was back from when I was making those almond twill cookies.

that's what a dab of meringue in the corners is for

and/or gaffer tape

I used everything short of superglue.

superglue it is

:)

Here's that old lady now. Stop talking about her.

it's ok, she can't really hear us unless we shout

@Stephie HELLO DEARIE! HAVE YOU TAKEN YOUR PILLS TODAY?!

@Jolenealaska crossword?

got a fresh one waiting to be started

@ElendilTheTall ???

Okay sure

@Stephie see age-related talk with Ninja

Who was ninja before he was ninja?

He's always been Ninja has he not?

Jude

ah yes

I remember, I used always say hey Jude.

I'm not sure he ever got it.

lol

@ElendilTheTall But then I'd have to feed the pills to the minors. Tranquilizers can be so soothing for those around them.

either that or he hears it so often he ignores it @Jolenealaska

like a certain Dolly Parton song

(re. wrinkles)

That could be! When people break out into song when I tell them my name, I often say, "That's a song?"

oh! speaking of songs

I finally got that book on anthems from the library

they bought it in for me

they buy about 90% of the books I ask for in for me

Keep their mose eccentric customer happy?

Or simply because they trust in your expertise?

eccentric, moi?

ok, here we go

Makes a judgment that is open to conversion (6), first letter O

object?

hmm

not sure I see how that fits

me neither, but it's the only thing I can come up with.

ah ha, just got the penultimate letter - E

Okay, that means object is off the table.

yes ma'am

Orates?

let's try another

this is two words over two lines

A mistake by the parson? (8,5)

first word begins with C

last word i'm fairly sure is ERROR

chaplain?????

do you have parsons in the States? :D

Chaplain Error?

yes

when have you heard of that phrase? :P

clerical error perhaps?

no, the yes was to your earlier question

Canonical error?

clerical

I like clerical error.

(miscounted)

that means 'Makes a judgment but is open to conversion' is O _ I _ E _

oh

opines?

opined

lol great minds

not sure how it fits the clue

yours fits better

ah

yes I am

IS OPEN, conversion = OPINES

ffs

i always forget to look out for these words that indicate an anagram

basically anything suggesting change or rearrangement or editing or jumbling

ok, here's a nice long one

(That's what she said...)

His instruction will proceed step by step (7,6)

_ _ N _ _ _ G, _ A _ T _ _

probably an ING

Dancing...

master

oh, good!

rewatching GoT 84 times pays off :D

:)

I'm watching it now!

lol

one colleague holds it to make a copy (7) I _ I _ A _ E

imitate

yep

although I don't see a twist

'one' in a clue often indicates I (as in Roman numerals). Another word for colleague is MATE. MATE 'holds' IT M - IT - ATE. Add the I. IMITATE

FFS again

just gotta know the tricks and methods they use

part of learning how to solve 'em

Kind of like not wasting Ss

and QI

:)

It's sung for joy (4) G _ E _

I'm stuck on Ode to Joy

me too

can't be that many words with that configuration though

GEAR

GLEE!!

Alteration in rate with certain valued possession (8) _ R _ _ S _ _ _

'alteration' could be an anagram indicator

transfer?

treasure?

treasure fits the clue better

yeah

alteration in RATE = TREA, with CERTAIN (SURE) = valued possession

not just a hat rack are ya?

not last time I checked

we have yet to see your new do btw

soon, I'm a bit scrambled just now.

Eddard just lost his head.

I called the doctor and told her that I would do the treatment if we can get it financially approved.

Unless the VA is betting that I will live less than three years, it's kind of a no-brainer for them.

But, we'll see.

cool

hope it works out

I hope so too

Besides

I live for danger

(Hiding under the sheets)

That's a very obscure reference by the way. If you can get that one, I am very impressed.

The Lion King?

The first line brought to mind the second. And yes, the first one is The Lion King.

The second line came from some science-fiction thing I read in junior high.

coffee and mint kitkat time

That sounds really good

We don't have Minsky Tear

lol

That's what I get for hitting enter before looking at what Dragon has wrought.

Mint Kitkats sound awesome.

dark chocolate

we also have orange and toffee flavours

Oh Yum, I love orange and chocolate.

are you aware of Terry's Chocolate Orange?!

Is that the one that you break to eat

Yeah

We have something similar to that, but it has a different name.

It's a Christmas thing

here too

though they are available all year round

traditional stocking-filler

made in York, where Stephie has recently been

as are Kit Kats

fun fact - the stuff between the wafers in Kit Kats is mashed up Kit Kats that didn't pass QC (in terms of looks or chocolate coverage)

That makes great sense

I just googled for quite a while and didn't see the one that is sold here. I want to say it it's Ghirardelli, but I can't find it. Maybe it is Terry's we get here.

brb

back... are you?

Have you checked out the Puzzling stack?

@Jolenealaska o/

no, not for a while

(puzzling stack)

A lot of the puzzles are actually quite good, but the answerers there are animals. Once in a while I can come up with an answer, but by then there is another answer already written and accepted.

Remember the scene in Game of Thrones where Grand Maester Pycelle gets out of bed after Ros leaves, and goes through a stretching routine?

It's in the last episode of season one.

It seems like it's going to come back, that he is not as crippled as he pretends to be.

yeah, I remember that

They haven't touched back on it yet. It seems that it was a bit glaring for them not to touch back on it.

I'm trying to figure out how that could play into the end game.

I'm going through the entire series again trying to pick up dangling threads, and I am not finding many.

I always thought it was just a nod to the fact that he is wilier than he makes out

in any case, no amount of calisthenics will bring him back from how he ended up :D

Oh yeah. I kinda forgot that he bit it on that special day.

Has Earth ever seen a red comet?

universetoday.com/100665/…

Apparently not

no

comets are ice

Any more crossword clues?

let's see

Goes for the takings, 8, penultimate letter D

absconds?

explain your working

to abscond is to go

and to take "it"

I like it

hmmm

well, let's see if we can get a confirmation

Could this be the start of a second childhood?

7

last letter H

rebirth?

I like it

that makes the second letter of the one before R :D

hmm

other clues corroborate REBIRTH, sorry

hand in your badge and gun

hmm... Too much Game of Thrones again. brigands?

He should handle the money that is right! 7 _ _ _ _ I _ R

cashier...

goes for the takings = proceeds

dammit, for some reason I dismissed that as a possibility. I must've miscount letters

Cashier was actually one of the first things that popped into my head.

Then I played with change

Must sleep now…

Good night

g'night hon

I have a rather stupid question. I'm planning on making some General Tso's chicken (in line with imgur.com/gallery/sVrmkys to start, haven't spent too much time looking for a better recipe but I am sure they are out there) and I had a question about the frying. So, what you do is you marinate the chicken, put it in flour, and then fry it in a bunch of oil. Could I, in theory, stir fry the flour-chicken instead? I don't actually have a decent frying pan, nor any frying oil for that matter.

Would I completely ruin the dish? I suppose so, the flour will soak up all the oil I'm stir frying it in won't it

@user3183724 sorry no one was here. If you need to stir fry the chicken, don't coat it in flour. It won't be General Tso's, but it will still be good.

@Jolenealaska God damn curling foil paper!

lol!

April Fools Day - Imagine that.

Click on the link - more fun.

@Catija I see you're back to hassling OPs to clarify their questions :)

I guess that means congratulations are in order!