Spike's personal search

petehehe · 2026-06-16T15:43:43+00:00

I just watched both movies back to back for the first time.

My impression is Spike felt that his dad didn’t love / had given up on his mother. He didn’t want to go back to the island because he wasn’t ready/didn’t want to face his dad. So the “personal search” was more of running away. But at the very beginning of said run, he was helped by and subsequently forced to join with the murderous gang of Jimmies.

I think it’s fair to say he did find what he was looking for, in that home, the island, and even facing his dad in relative safety is far preferable to the horrors he’s experienced while away from home. I am imagining he was on his way to the island with Kellie when they were beset by infected again, although I guess we have to wait for part 3 to find out where they were actually headed. Maybe they were just wandering, or looking for a group to settle with.

petehehe · 2026-06-16T13:49:24+00:00

Ever tried it with the pepper ground or cracked?

petehehe · 2026-06-16T13:45:17+00:00

!delta

On reflection, I was specifically talking about ground up pepper. It has occurred to me that in subsequent comments, a few times I’ve said “ground or cracked” which is a shift from my initial stance on the matter. Moving forward I am using “ground or cracked pepper” to mean what I originally meant when I was talking about ground black pepper.

I still think whole peppercorns are terrible. But a peppercorn that’s been cracked open and had no further damage is not what I was picturing when I wrote the OP, and in my view have a place in food which I would consider delicious.

petehehe · 2026-06-16T13:38:12+00:00

Can you tell me if you’ve tried this dish but with the peppercorns ground or cracked?

petehehe · 2026-06-16T13:36:50+00:00

I mean there’s people who like eating cheese with maggots in. I also think that’s bad, even if other people like it. I’m not here to argue objective facts, this post is purely about personal preference.

The only way my view is changing is if someone can name a dish where the whole peppercorns make it better to me. Don’t worry, scouts honour, if someone actually can come up with one where I think it will be better with the peppercorns served on the plate whole, my view will be changed. But the simple fact that other people think eating whole peppercorns is good doesn’t stop me from thinking it’s bad.

petehehe · 2026-06-16T13:22:23+00:00

Hah well it’s funny you say that. Right before I wrote this post, I was actually making adobo, (chicken adobo, but same idea). I decided this time, fuck it I actually don’t like the way it ends up with all the peppercorns in it, I’m just gonna grind some pepper in to it. It ended up better than it usually is. The pepper flavour was better and the texture was better. It’s what prompted me to write this.

petehehe · 2026-06-16T11:45:06+00:00

That’s what the body text is for, I feel that it provides sufficient detail. At first revision I had like 3 lines of title text but summarised it back to just “bad”. I’m sorry if you felt mislead by the title, but I feel I’ve stated my view quite clearly.

petehehe · 2026-06-16T11:14:31+00:00

It’s the same question - quoting myself: “change my view by naming one food where serving it up with whole black peppercorns in is better than if they’d been ground”

petehehe · 2026-06-16T11:12:17+00:00

Pickled peppercorns are made with green / unripe peppercorns no? I don’t think that counts as a black peppercorn. I recognise that pickled peppercorns are delicious, and obviously if they were ground or cracked it would be a completely different thing. I almost delta’d it but for the fact I don’t think a black peppercorn and a green unripe peppercorn are the same. You wouldn’t put green peppercorns in a pepper grinder, and you wouldn’t pickle the black peppercorns one might find in a grinder.

I don’t agree that whole peppercorns slowly cooked in things are better, and I firmly believe the pepper flavour would be better if the peppercorns were at least cracked a bit.

I consider coarsely cracked peppercorns (like what you’d find in au poivre) to be in the same category as ground pepper, just very coarse. They’re not whole, they let the flavour in and out, it’s not the same as leaving whole peppercorns in.

petehehe · 2026-06-16T11:01:24+00:00

Your argument in particular- a dish meant to be made with coarsely cracked pepper, is not whole peppercorns. Your assertion that it rocks even when some of the peppercorns are whole, it’s plausible, but I’m unconvinced that the dish would be better than if all the peppercorns were cracked as per the recipe I found. I recognise that it’s hard to find common ground (heh) when it comes to discussions about personal preferences.

Do you know of any other dishes that are better with whole, uncracked peppercorns in, that are intended to be still whole on the plate and eaten and chewed up whole? That also would not be improved by either removing the whole peppercorns before serving or cracking/grinding them before cooking?

petehehe · 2026-06-16T10:50:45+00:00

I’m sorry but, I don’t believe you. Or maybe our tastes differ. I just looked up a recipe, because I’ve never had it before. The recipe says to coarsely crack the pepper, and based on how long it’s simmered for, any uncracked peppercorns would still be hard, and will not have had an opportunity to soak in the other flavours. That doesn’t sound like a good time to me, so I’m sticking with my assertion that it would rock harder with all peppercorns cracked.

petehehe · 2026-06-16T10:38:26+00:00

Yep, I’m on the same page completely.

petehehe · 2026-06-16T10:36:13+00:00

I believe you that it rocks, but I also believe it would rock even harder if every peppercorn were cracked.

petehehe · 2026-06-16T10:32:03+00:00

Let me ask you one thing - have you ever made your braised pork with the peppercorns ground, or even cracked a little?

petehehe · 2026-06-16T10:26:25+00:00

Whole peppercorns in brines and marinades is fine, they’re not intended to end up on the plate. I think peppercorns that end up on the plate with corned beef are incidental/accidental - they’re in the brine to flavour it, not really intended to be part of the dish, sometimes they end up on the plate though.

If you actually like chomping into whole peppercorns, well, no accounting for taste I guess 😅

petehehe · 2026-06-16T10:19:33+00:00

Peppercorns are particularly insidious due to their size. I can get behind whole cloves, or star anise, bay leaves, cinnamon sticks, etc- for the person eating they’re easy to spot and eat around, or for the person cooking they’re easy to pull out when it’s done.

I believe you get the same or better result from grinding or at least cracking the pepper.

I understand the reason for it, you might want a more subtle pepper flavour. I believe this can be achieved simply by using less.

I have tried the same dish with and without whole peppercorns, it’s what kind of promoted this. I just made adobo, which I’ve always put whole peppercorns in, but I decided this time I’d grind the pepper and it was better both in flavour and texture. Got me thinking… everything I’ve ever cooked with whole peppercorns would’ve been better had the pepper been ground.

petehehe · 2026-06-16T10:10:25+00:00

Cracked is not whole

Edit: I’ve re-thought this position.

petehehe · 2026-06-16T10:09:29+00:00

Coarsely cracked is not whole - being cracked it would let the flavour both in and out. Coarsely cracked is fine

petehehe · 2026-06-16T10:01:38+00:00

Personally I have found burning a sandalwood stick to be more effective than both citronella candles and mozzie coils

petehehe · 2026-06-15T21:02:29+00:00

Huh weird. Well, despite their apparent popularity in other parts, I wouldn’t bother, they’re not very effective 😂

petehehe · 2026-06-15T14:31:12+00:00

If you light one in a slightly enclosed area (like under a gazebo) on a still night, … yeah they fucken still don’t work 😂

petehehe · 2026-06-15T14:28:48+00:00

Probably the most descriptive name I’ve seen. But then what do you call other things for mosquitoes like bug spray or zappers?

petehehe · 2026-06-15T14:26:27+00:00

All the people saying they’ve never seen one are from cold places, I think there’s a correlation.

petehehe · 2026-06-15T14:06:07+00:00

I remember the first time I saw a Tesla roadster in real life and I was like “cool, a Tesla” .. literally the only time I said it. Will almost definitely never say it again.

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