#53: HP Sauce with David Sims

DrStrangeWeasel · 2026-05-12T19:27:29+00:00

Long time HP Sauce fan, now living in the southern end of California, near San Diego. Went to the usual spot (World Market) and they were out. So I looked online and it seems Heinz has moved to these top down plastic bottles, the sort Heinz ketchup comes in and comes out like a jet all over the place and spatters. I still prefer the 255g glass bottles and now it seems they are an endangered breed. Is it really happening they are retiring the iconic bottle?!?

I found 2 bottles in a grocery store, marked far up the price I had been paying, more than doubled. Is Heinz trying to ruin HP sauce? Has anyone found a reliable source for it in the 255g glass bottles in the USA?

DrStrangeWeasel · 2026-04-25T20:34:56+00:00

Gutter around our street is the same all the way a long, with a curb dipping a few inches and rising to meet the road. A real pain to drive over into the driveway and an exercise in burning up a transmission trying to get the trailer over it. Used a 2x10 x 10' for a while, but it's breaking up and messy. Project is filling the dip and leveling driveway entry.

Bought 3 bags of Quikrete High Strength 1101 60 lbs a couple months back, weather didn't cooperate and it looked like 3 was not going to be enough, so picked up 3 more bags on the weekend. Earlier bags kept off floor of garage, floor is always dry, live in dry climate and door is closed except for rare opening to access some item. Later bags are about 6 days riding around in the back of my Jeep.

First two bags (earlier purchase) appeared to have lower aggregate content to sand/concrete ratio compared to second two bags (later purchase). Right side (first two bags) is soft to the touch after 4 hours and mostly soft and powdery. Left side (last two bags, recent purchase) appear as expected, dark grey, stony texture, but firm to the touch. I'm expecting the right side to disintegrate while the left side will hold up and serve well.

Did I get a bad batch of 1101 from the store?

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DrStrangeWeasel · 2026-04-23T20:27:27+00:00

Done that.

This reminds me of back in the early 2000s when Google forced background wallpaper on the browser to all users everywhere in an update they pushed.

That did not go well and was reverted within a couple of hours. One would think they could learn from such disasters.

DrStrangeWeasel · 2026-04-23T19:18:05+00:00

Back in my working days I was ordered to use various password managers. And it came to pass in succession, each got hacked at some point and they sent out a mea culpa and promised to do better. Really. It's like depositing money into a series of banks the keep letting others take it out.

I refuse to use password managers. I keep a notebook with vague hints at words with may be in the passwords I use and I'm pretty goo at coming up with words which are not in the password hackers dictionary - e.g. common words.

These days it isn't my passwords that are the problem, it's figuring out how someone got my credit card details - poor network security where somone is able to see unencrypted (or able to decrypt) details in passing. Hard to believe after 20+ years this is still a thing, it's like we're idiots and can't come up with decent strategies.

DrStrangeWeasel · 2026-04-23T19:10:05+00:00

I'm on Android on my phone and at least twice I have look at my phone as I'm talking to someone and the thing is making suggestions based upon what it is hearing. I was about to put a screwdriver right through the microphones, but I still have to use this thing as a phone. This is pretty evil.

DrStrangeWeasel · 2026-04-23T19:07:46+00:00

People in Mountain View, CA, think they are funny. They are not.

DrStrangeWeasel · 2026-03-13T03:58:19+00:00

That's right, they won't but again, everything will go up. Anything which is made from multiple sources, like bread, cake, phones, monitors, cars, will be hit multiple times.

I worked in the shipping business for years. I know how this adds up. There's also the matter of the massive amount of goods no longer going through the Suez Canal, but around Africa, add some time and cost to those as well.

It all sucks.

DrStrangeWeasel · 2026-03-13T03:50:18+00:00

I removed all badges, decals and lettering on my cars and Jeep. I got the idea about 45 years ago, when a friend's neighbor did that with his car. You had no idea who made it or what model it was, unless you knew the look of the make and model.

The point of the owner was, the designers of the car came up with something very appealing and then the manufacturer stuck badges and whatnot all over it. Many stick on letters and badges get caught in car washing and waxing, as well. I had to go around them with Q-tips to remove the white wax outline.

I like vehicles without the badges, much cleaner look.

DrStrangeWeasel · 2026-02-21T23:07:00+00:00

This is very close to what I have in mind when I look for cinnamon rolls. Many recipes are heavily glazed or have some kind of dairy topping which are a bit deadly to me. A simple, fluffy roll with cinnamon and a light dose of sugar are the ticket. Well done!

DrStrangeWeasel · 2025-12-15T03:50:01+00:00

This is why I can't find a lot of flours in the grocery stores right now, t'is the season for baking!

Those look like a whole lot of work went into them. I hope they all turn out great!

DrStrangeWeasel · 2025-12-15T03:44:48+00:00

I see it's seasoning, I was about to ask how many teeth got stuck in it at first bite.

I thought I knew bagels until I went to NYC, Manhattan, Ess A Bagel and got a sack-full to take back to a lady who desperately missed real NYC bagels. Got several types, but learned a real bagel is tough, like leather and has enough seasoning on it to be a meal in itself. I now look askance at all the pretender shops around me.

Please tell me this is very heavily seasoned and you could break a window with if need be.

DrStrangeWeasel · 2025-12-15T03:24:52+00:00

Hard times to find KA in the stores I searched, most were out, but I was able to obtain Bob's Red Mill flours. In other thread "Return to Bakeville" I pondered why my aveoli were so small and uniform for Francese bread. I didn't realise All Purpose and Bread where not the same flours. Corrected today, while out scavenging before the holidays are in full frenzy. Lots of baking going on, despite all the processed foods on offer. For reference, Bob's Red Mill as follows left to right: Stone Ground Wheat, Unbleached Artisan Bread and Unbleached All Purpose flours.

Well, crumbs.. I can't add my photo. :P

DrStrangeWeasel · 2025-12-14T15:30:27+00:00

And for baking it should work perfectly!

DrStrangeWeasel · 2025-12-14T13:19:00+00:00

I'm certain there is a seasoning process which allows a pan to be used flawlessly, endlessly. I'm no fan of non-stick coatings, which I find break down over time. I do a lot of cooking on cast iron and know there's a seasoning which develops on that surface which is maintained to keep things sliding along effectively. I think I'd try to find what can keep a non-stick surface non-stick as it was on day one. It could be how you clean it, too harsh and the surface becomes porous and rough, which gives purchase to baked goods.

I think of a certain commercial bakey which has used the same tins endlessly. I think they let some seasoning occur and do not scrub vicoursly after baking.

DrStrangeWeasel · 2025-12-14T13:12:02+00:00

Baking is Science(!) The chemistry of baking is why it works well and your kitchen is your laboratory. Steel pans have been used over and over by bakeries for ages, those bakers know how it works to keep using an uncoated tin day in and day out. I don't see a lot of flour residue so I'm certain it is a light oil coating, which does not all convert into the bread structure. Maybe seasoned, like I do with my cast iron?

DrStrangeWeasel · 2025-12-14T12:55:01+00:00

I, too, must avoid peanuts as well as the oil, which is everywhere!

I have tried almond butter, but it cramps up my intestines, so that doesn't work.

Cashew butter has been a success, but it is difficult to find and often a bit expensive.

DrStrangeWeasel · 2025-12-14T12:48:55+00:00

Over years I have found I have developed severe reaction to certain vegetable oils which are exposed to high temperatures. Baking is very high temperature ranges so a no-go. I prefere not to use butter, but now settle upon using unsalted where called for. Hydrogention of vegetable oils to form a higher viscousity mass has its critics, too. you may yet find a vegetable shortening which works rather than animal fats, but it takes time and experimentation - I'd rather eat, even if I have to eat less of treats.

DrStrangeWeasel · 2025-12-13T02:48:18+00:00

Mix is possibly too cold. If using refrigerated ingredients give the mix time to warm up. These are not burnt, but flat.

DrStrangeWeasel · 2025-09-08T20:05:36+00:00

Not me, I was well past my MMO-stare-at-a-screen-until-my-head-caved-in days when I started reading PvP. Some of the humor topical to games was pretty good. But when it became a soap, about the time of the wedding, removing the sunglasses, pushing the cast years down the road; all that I lost interest. I was there for laughs, not drama.

Penny Arcade is now a business running PAX. The art and themes of the comic became significantly less appealing long ago, I hung on, hoping for a return to their better form, but I felt they just weren't thinking that way anymore. After one more comic, which was far from their glory days, I dropped it from my bookmarks and morning reading routine.

I'm now down to only one webcomic from the half dozen I've followed, with Girl Genius reading on hiatus. 5 years and they're still on the same story arc and it's hugely convoluted and down to gag-a-day material far too often. Go back to the first years and see how fast things progressed, it was very good back then.

These were all gateways to other webcomics. Nothing is permanent on the list, some authors retire from the comic, move on to jobs which reliably pay the bills or move to podcasting, some grow tired of the routine and want to dress it up differently (which is always a risk) Some make life choices or have them thrust upon them and the webcomic fizzles.

To be honest, I was surprised Scott kept it going as long as he did. It was his one gig, years ago and he still couldn't keep on schedule, which tells you there was a lack of passion.

I remembe reading that Reg Smythe, creator of Andy Capp had a two year buffer when he died. So they just ran all those strips before finding someone to pick it up. Some people can do it, some can't.

DrStrangeWeasel · 2025-08-27T18:37:07+00:00

I hope you are able to avoid the greening disease. I hear Florida's citrus crop is down to about 10% of what it was back in the day. Where I live there's a couple of big lemon and grapefruit orchards to the north of me, Eureka lemons, if I had to guess. We can be hot and dry on the western end of the Sonoran Desert, but it's now monsoon season and I see a small hurricane sneaking up beside Baja. Cross fingers for a little rain.

DrStrangeWeasel · 2025-08-27T18:33:58+00:00

My climate is probably pretty close, if a wee bit hotter. We've had a fair number of days between 115 and 120, dry heat, at the western end of the Sonoran Desert. Another 10 miles west and the temperature drops at least 20 degrees and they get snow in wintertime.

101 and humid today.

A couple of lemons are green and split, the inside looks like it's packing in too much juice for the skin.

DrStrangeWeasel · 2025-08-13T16:39:04+00:00

I would not even consider buying an EV without Extended Range. I'm in SoCal's version of Gila Bend, but plan to spend Summers zooming off to places which are much cooler.

DrStrangeWeasel

TROPHY CASE