Friday, January 25, 2013

If you are gonna cook pasta............

You need to invest in these two vital kitchen tools.

First is the spider. No not the asshole form "Goodfella's" him you shoot in the foot. The spider is a strainer at the end of stick that allows you fish pasta out of the water and drain each cupful individually. It ends the mess and danger of carrying the pot over to the sink to drain in a colander. Here the pasta pot is right next to the sauce pan and you can add it right in. Then their it the large spaghetti fork. Works on the same principle. Fish out a handful of spaghetti and add it directly to a bowl or as I prefer to do add it right into your sauce. If you can cook it al dente you can let it cook a little in the sauce and get all of that flavor working for you! Add on a shitpot full of cheese and you gotz some good eating there paisan!

I use one or the other of these tools every day. Just sayn'

21 comments:

The Dude said...

Funny you should mention Spider - played by Michael Imperioli. I just watched the Sopranos episode "The Legend of Tennessee Moltisanti", wherein Mr. Imperioli's character Christofuh shoots the bakery clerk in the foot. That's some funny shite right there. Bam - call an ambulance. Or, in Spider's case, the ME.

chickelit said...

The last tool I invested in was Inga and I regret it.

MamaM said...

Yes, Yes, but the real question is how long Zemo can resist the all-luring Red Hook, while dipping his toes in the chum and swirling his spider around fishing for noodles.

MamaM said...

As for investing in tools, experience with abusers is often hard earned. Their behavior follows a cycle:

Abusive people don't behave abusively all the time or even most of the time. Real abuse is sporadic, intermittent, occasional, temporary and sustained only for short bursts. It doesn't take much mistreatment to terrorize or demoralize a person for a very long time. It is quite common for an abusive person to behave normally most of the time and even be kind, polite, humble, gracious, generous, devoted or apologetic in periods between and immediately following episodes of mistreatment. This is often how an abusive person draws a victim closer to themselves between outbursts. It is also common during these periods for an abusive person to want to "rewrite" their own history or try to influence their victim to misrepresent or ignore past events as a way of justifying themselves or dealing with the discomfort they feel over the realities of their dysfunctional behavior. The victim will often play along, grateful for a period of calm, happy to "let sleeping dogs lie" and not wanting to provoke any further outbursts.

Dejavu City at the Stupid Party tonight with a fresh round of "Goodnight Moon" trotted out one more time, same words, similar situation as the cycle repeats.

Trooper York said...

I put that where it will do the most good.

Trooper York said...

MamaM.

After I posted that quote in the thread you mentioned the aforementioned person put in two replies.

And they both sounded just like Meade!

I know right.

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

Trooper York said...

Oooops. It was deleted. Ha.

Trooper York said...

Oooops. It was deleted. Ha.

chickelit said...

Sometimes when I squint my eyes it all comes into focus

MamaM said...

When a twisted noodle lands of its own accord in the middle of the sieve, does that still count as fishing?

Titus's recent reference to Salinsky was a good one. The thing is, the Twisted Reverse works for those using it, because it momentarily confuses the hell out of honest people who are not expecting or prepared to encounter that type of deception and aren't sure what they're hearing because it sort of sounds true, yet it's aimed in the wrong direction.

I missed the deleted comments, but appreciated the classic Salinsky artistry in the one where the pronouns (I and You) were switched so the truer statement:
I am a pot stirring hypocrite. You call 'em as you see 'em."
was changed to:
You are a pot stirring hypocrite. I call 'em as I see 'em

Then there's this Reverse that comes so close to stating the writer's apparent motive, it's astonishing: Why did you choose to come back here to comment anyway? I believe it's ONLY to stir the pot.

Good thing your spider has a long reach and slow-to-conduct-heat wooden handle.

chickelit said...

Is a Salinsky reversal like a Palinsky or are you referring to someone actually named Salinsky?

chickelit said...

Saul/Paul

MamaM said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
MamaM said...

Well, that pairing sent me on a mental road trip, chickelit, from zealotry and the holding of coats while stoning, to bright lights and blindness, to chosen instruments and scales falling from the eyes.

Maybe we're all tools, in one form or another.

MamaM said...

Another prime twist:

how odd of you to bring me into this thread in which I haven't commented, who else does that ?

Who else indeed???

Bwwwwaaahaaaaaaaahaaaahhhaaaaa!!!!

chickelit said...

When I read that I wondered why she didn't point out that I had invoked her earlier. I look for consistencies.

chickelit said...

Oh, just want to be on the same page by what you meant by Salinsky because I'd never seen or heard that as one word before.

MamaM said...

Where is Mamam?

Is she on some Salinsky site?

(from Titus at TY/Jan 24-Spumoni Time)

Given the questionable condition of his keyboard, I don't know if this was a typo or a deliberate tweak, but I liked the sound that resulted from joining Saul's initial to his name. It turns a name and technique into a word with a double hiss, similar in sound to the word salacious.

What I see is consistency in the inconsistencies; with an abuse cycle of Calm, Tension, Acting Out, and Honeymoon, playing out over and over again amid the Salinsky-style twisting, targeting and polarization that also takes place.

The friendly "calm" overlay of sweetness, informative tips and lighthearted interest quickly changes to "tension" when the intent to control and dominate with calculated pokes and seemingly sincere challenges kicks in, creating the set-up for "acting-out", where intensity gives way to overt nastiness, accusations, name calling, dramatic blaming and "poor me I'm a victim" behavior, which is then followed by calls for hugs and milk and cookies in the "honeymoon" stage, with deletions and "lets be girls and friends together" leading the way back to "calm" and the restart of the cycle.

Abuse is driven by a strong desire to control and dominate another, with humor, humility, and mutual respect missing from the picture.

Dust Bunny Queen said...

MammaM has clarity of vision and much more creative way of expressing herself than do I.

The ability to see what lurks under the facade of sweetness and jocularity and to recognize the manipulative behavior that will inevitably ensue, is a survival skill that young girls in junior high must learn. Boys are totally baffled until they are burned several times. Most of us eventually leave junior high. Some of us stay there because they have no other abilities and 'peaked' in those glory days.

chickelit said...

@MamaM and DBQ: OK, the original Salinsky reference blew past me. But my Salinsky/Palinsky riff was pretty good, no?

I have to stop being so literal.

MamaM said...

Whatever you are, chickelit, the topic moves when your chicken feats show up to scratch the surface, search for bugs and move the piles of hay and manure around.

Yes, the Salinsky/Palinsky was good. Did you catch the tool reference as it was intended? It was a bounce off from your Saul/Paul contribution, capturing the essence of the thread right down to the discussed and pictured tools and TY's spider zeal!

In the story of Paul, the Owner of the Big Light sends one of his loyal servants, A, a Vision telling him he's supposed to go and have a face to face chat with the blind Paul to personally touch the bloody zealot to restore his sight. He says he's given Paul a similar Vision, something A won't know to be true until he walks into the dragon's mouth. When A expresses qualms about the arrangement, he is told, "GO!" in no uncertain terms. Why? Because: "This man is my chosen instrument..."

Which led me to wonder if we are all tools in one way or another?

DBQ, The influence of your thoughtful directness and good humor reminds me of the way a line drawn in sand/dirt can change the course of water. There's creative artistry in that too! I appreciate your affirmation, and like the new avatar, especially the sharp point on the barb, and way wire sets and represents a clear boundary.